Spicer Family Business

A family business is a commercial business on a small scale in which generations affect the decisions of such company. The majority decision maker is usually those directly related by blood or by marriage. These are the people that are normally in leadership and management roles. Family businesses are the oldest and most common model of economic organization that can be related to. For most of businesses throughout the world, anywhere from mom and pop stores to multimillion dollar stores are considered to be family businesses. The amount of locations doesn’t define if a business is a family owned one or the amount of profits it makes. Some of the largest corporations started off as a family business. Such as Walmart and even Samsung.

Spicer’s Boat City started in 1962 when Spicer’s Furniture and Appliance in Cadillac decided to enter into the boating industry. There was a huge opportunity with the recent change from wood to aluminum and fiberglass boats Current Spicer’s Boat City owner Phillip Spicer’s grandfather, George Spicer, acquired a closed lumber mill on Lake Cadillac and built Spicer’s Marina, this included a boat harbor and dockage.

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Phillips goal for Spicer’s is “To expand our leadership position being top of mind with consumers in Michigan seeking a boat or off-road power sports vehicle”. But Bob says he wants to “Keep the business family orientated and to continue the family name through the years”. It is obvious that there is two different goals for the company. Balancing competing interests frequently become difficult. Like when Bob first took over the business. Charlie had wanted a sole focus on boats and Bob chose to branch out from there. Bob did what most do in this situation by involving more management in the business. This was to balance out the family views with an outside