Dai Viet and Chien Thang: Two companies and a Family (A), (B) and (C)

• Main Authors: CHUA, Roy, RAMACHANDRA, Rameshwari, RAO-KACHROO, Mahima
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Building materials; value-based leadership; mergers and acquisitions; leadership teams; management consulting services; personal conflicts; Business Administration, Management, and Operations; Leadership; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/476; https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/5956
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In 2019, the three Do sons, Nam, Hoa and Giang were shocked when their parents, Mr Hanh and Mdm Nghi, announced that they would hand over the joint running of their two companies—Dai Viet (DV) and Chien Thang (CT), to them. Since 1999, the Do family had consecutively founded and operated multiple sanitary- and porcelainware factory businesses that included Mdm Nghi’s CT in 2002, and the family’s DV Group, in 2013. CT and DV were vastly different in their employee base, organisational cultures, and operational processes. Unfortunately, given their proximity at work, cracks soon appeared when family disputes started affecting company operations, and vice versa. This disrupted decision-making at times and escalated to the point of shouting matches in front of employees. Eventually, by early 2019, Mr Hanh and Mdm Nghi were adamant that the brothers had to learn to work with one another to eventually merge and manage the two companies together. Giang however, being the only son who had worked with his father through complex financial and operational challenges, felt the crushing weight of responsibility bearing down on him. He wondered if the two companies ought to be merged despite the cultural, operational, and personal differences. Alternatively, he could hire professional consultants to help iron out the various issues in both companies. The most drastic measure would be to consider selling one of the companies. If so, which of the two companies should the family sell? Their parents had worked hard to grow DV and CT—what would they think if their sons sold off the embodiment of their legacy in the sanitary- and porcelainware industry? The case teaches students about: (a) Using a systems approach to deal with key family business issues namely; conflicts, low trust and lack of clarity on business future and succession. (b) Issues relating to succession planning in family businesses. (c) The role of visioning to create a shared future and as an alignment process to articulate grievances, resolve conflicts, improve communication, foster trust, develop leadership, and create a pathway to towards greater affinity and efficiency within the family and businesses. (d) The trade-off between socioemotional wealth (SEW) and financial wealth (FW).