We are heavily involved in the local family business community. We work closely with the International Centre for Families in Business and we are a founding member of the Bristol Family Business Community.

• International Centre for Families in Businesses (ICFIB)
• Bristol Family Business Community (BFBC)

International Centre for Families in Business (ICFIB)

We work closely with ICFIB to ensure that our clients receive the breadth of advice and support that they need at the time they need it.

The Centre has a unique approach combining consulting work, academic programmes including the only MBA course dedicated to the family business together with training courses for those involved in the family business and there adviser.

VWV was delighted to be invited to be an ICFIB Corporate Partner. Corporate Partnership is by invitation only and our membership is testament to the close ties between the two organisations.

Two of our lawyers, Nicholas Smith and Emma Fordyce are Fellows of the International Centre for Families Business. Nicholas is a longstanding Fellow of ICFIB and regularly speaks, lectures and provides consultancy support in his capacity as a Fellow. Emma was recently invited to become a Fellow.

Click here to access the ICFIB website for more information.

University of the West of England (UWE)

We work closely with UWE to explore family business, in particular in relation to research in this area.

2011 National Family Business Survey

We are delighted to present the 2010 National Family Business Survey. The survey has been developed jointly by the University of the West of England (Bristol) and VWV.

In 2006 it was estimated family businesses contributed over £400 billion of the £1,000 billion GDP in the private sector. They contributed £47 billion per annum in taxes which is almost 10% of total UK tax receipts. However, there is relatively little information about their governance, scope, scale and strategy. Hence the reason for this survey - the first one of its kind to be conducted in the UK.

The information provided has enabled the development of a very comprehensive picture of businesses which will be used to inform policy and practice in the UK.

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.

Bristol Family Business Community

Together with ICFIB and the University of the West of England, we are supporting the Bristol Family Business Community (BFBC). The BFBC is a not-for-profit community which brings together experts in the field of family business in a supportive and dynamic community dedicated to helping family businesses flourish.

The Community will facilitate the sharing of good practice, knowledge, skills and expertise between family businesses and practitioners. It will also lead advancements in training and development practices and provide research leadership in applied family business studies.

Membership of the Community is free to all family businesses. The benefits of membership also include:

• access to leading family businesses that have faced and successfully overcome the challenges presented by growing a family business in a chaotic business environment
• input from professionals who work daily to solve these challenges
• leading edge thinking in family business growth and development especially around the key topics of governance, succession and family dynamics
• access to leading research in family business management Community Calendar.

At the BFBC launch, Dr Lorna Collins, Principal Lecturer in Strategy (Enterprise and Creativity) at Bristol Business School, said:

"We are delighted to launch the Community in collaboration with Veale Wasbrough and ICFIB. From our research we appreciated that there was a need to create such a community to facilitate strategic growth in family businesses through expert advice, support and by sharing best practice. With so many family businesses operating in the South West we know that the Community will be welcomed and we are sure that it will go from strength to strength."

As well as providing access to academic experts in family business the Community hosts a number of key talks and workshops. The first of these talks was 'An afternoon with Peter Thornton', former CEO of £120m chocolate-shop chain Thorntons who spent nearly 30 years in the family's factories.

To find out more about joining any of these forums, please contact Nicholas Smith on 0117 314 5