The Tunisian Economy: A Landscape Dominated by Family Businesses
The Tunisian economy is predominantly composed of family businesses, with the majority of the country's first groups and most common legal form, SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée), being family-owned. It is essential to examine this unique type of enterprise, their heterogeneous realities, challenges, and perspectives.
Definition of a Family Business
A family business is a structure where the capital or voting rights are held by a single family, either restricted or extended. Its distinct characteristic is differentiated by three main features:
- Ownership and control by the family
- Direct involvement of family members in strategy and operational management
- Transmission of the business across generations
Realities of Family Businesses in Tunisia
Tunisian family businesses, regardless of their size, experience different realities in terms of management, governance, problems, and performance. These realities can be classified into three distinct parallel universes:
1. Patriarchal Management Societies
Often SARLs, the capital is 100% owned by the family, with the father (also the manager) holding the majority of shares and distributing some to his wife and children. The manager practices "managed tinkering," accumulating power and decision-making authority. These structures suffer from poor management, high fixed costs, and unbalanced financial structures, leading to structural cash flow problems that threaten their viability and longevity.
For these family businesses, the most effective solutions are often the most radical, requiring a significant effort to inject liquidity through capital increases, if growth prospects exist, or if the company still holds an advantageous historical position in its market. The "patriarch" should also consider gradually integrating the second generation into the company's restructuring plan to preserve its longevity.
2. Intermediate Structure Societies
Despite limited capital opening to third parties, the family retains majority ownership and direct involvement in management (SA or SARL). There are attempts to establish good management practices, with existing governance bodies (Board of Directors, Supervisory Board, or Executive Committee) playing a formal role in strategic monitoring and framing. However, their role remains limited.
This type of company faces problems such as defective or non-optimal internal organization and lack of banking support for financing. The response to these challenges involves opening up to the environment, mandating external firms for diagnostic, audit, and consulting missions, and strengthening partnerships with banks and auditors.
3. Advanced Family Structures
These are typically public limited companies with more diluted family control over capital, where the family remains directly or indirectly involved in management (general management positions, chairmanship of the board of directors) but is more rigorously supervised by clearly defined monitoring bodies.
Despite dozens of success stories, solid financial health, and apparently healthy structures, these entities face significant challenges in terms of strategy, risk management, and change management, particularly in implementing transversal digitalization projects.
In this more advanced, structured, and performing universe, clarity of strategic vision is crucial, as it often involves complex diversification, integration, or merger and acquisition approaches. Finally, particular attention should be given to motivating managers to ensure alignment of operational objectives with the strategy designed by shareholders.
In conclusion, family businesses are the backbone of the Tunisian economy, just as they are in the global economy (e.g., L'Oréal, LVMH). Despite the significant challenges faced by Tunisian family businesses, they remain the foundation upon which the country's future is built. Yassine Ben Abdallah
