Successful family businesses must embrace strategic planning through long term strategic plans and programmed succession within the family to ensure control of the business in many generations of family members. This book explores the role of strategic planning in family businesses and x-rays the consequences of ignoring strategic plans in family businesses. The conflict between family and business decisions must be minimized if the family business must succeed. Training of future family executives to control the business after the retirement of the founder of the family business is emphasized in the book as a guarantee for efficiency in operations and sustained profitability of family owned businesses.