Planning in the Poncini family business

The case relates the history of a diversified family business, Poncini Enterprises, located in the Trentino region of northern Italy. The firm began in the late 1940s with trucks and gradually diversified into property investment, retailing of bricks and construction tools and, more recently, grape growing. These various stages of diversification have stretched the firm's resources and heightened long-standing family difficulties and conflicts. The family business includes four siblings, three sons, a daughter, and their elderly, widowed father, who has recently experienced health problems. The youngest son, Lorenzo, has recently returned to the business after an extended period of accounting and wine business studies in Italy and abroad. Lorenzo asked his older brother, Carlo, to explain how the firm became so diversified, an important question, as the family needed to decide whether to maintain its involvement in grape growing. In addition, levels of conflict in the family increased as the family patriarch, Gianni, continued to make the important decisions despite his recent health issues. The case requires a decision regarding how the family should make its decisions in future, while meeting the need to safeguard the interests of both the family and the business.