From Family Business Management to Professional Management in a Time-Honored Brand: The Case of Fu Yuan Guan

This case describes the development process of Fu Yuan Guan, a Chinese time-honored brand. Through privatization, Fu Yuan Guan survived and rapidly captured its market. However, the family business management style proved to be a bottleneck during further expansion. There is a need to recruit qualified professional managers to improve the overall management of the firm but it seems there are challenges in doing so. This case describes the daily operationalization of this family firm together with the approach of top managers, with the purpose of exhibiting how its internal management is implemented.