News Briefs: ESG improves image of family offices; family businesses speed up digitalisation

ESG investing improves the image of family offices

Want to improve your family office’s image than invest in ESG opportunities, according to a recent survey. 

If a family office communicated its choice to invest in ESG, 73% of the public would think more positively of the family involved, according to a survey by UK-based communications agency, Transmission Private. The impact is even more pronounced among younger and female respondents.

“Many successful families have taken a positive and proactive stance on responsible investment for years now; they have been the real leaders in this field over the last few decades and beyond,” says Luke Thompson, a partner at Transmission Private

“Yet while they were the first out of the gate, they have always been reserved about communicating this family choice. Many families and successful individuals have worried that it may look like they are either seeking attention or, even worse, that their altruistic and authentic choices will be mischaracterised as cynical gestures. These new survey results now firmly put that to bed.”

COVID-19 speeds up digitalisation at family businesses

Family businesses throughout Europe are speeding up their commitment to digitalisation in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, according to research from Durham University Business School in the UK. The pandemic has also, according to the research, forced a drastic positive culture change in family firms, creating stronger solidarity and cohesion within the company.

More than half of firms’ CEOs and managers surveyed for the research stated an increased digitalisation in their working practices. Many firms said they already had capability and plans to further digitalise, but the impact of COVID-19 sped up this process and persuaded more reluctant employees to use digital tools. 

Their study surveyed family firms in Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. The firms varied in size and industry, and were all working through crisis management plans caused by the pandemic.