From the Editor

They are both blessed and cursed. On the one hand, today's young inheritors of business-a large number of whom have taken guard in the past one year as the 3rd or 4th generation of their family businesses-are faced with unprecedented opportunities. If they can use these opportunities and the family resources at their disposal well, they can make their business grow much more than all the previous generations of their family put together could.

But in trying to do that, they have to compete with the rising tide of first generation entrepreneurs who are ready and willing to snap up every opportunity that a booming economy is throwing up. Access to finance is easier than ever, industrial licences are no more the preserve of a few influential families and the world is the market place for any businessman with the right idea and the right attitude.

The majority of new inheritors that we spoke to for this special issue (second in our four-part series on GenNext; the first ran in our October 4, 2009 issue) was aware of the opportunities and the challenges they face. One big reason to believe that some inheritors of today will be heading world beating conglomerates tomorrow is the fact that they are being mentored by a generation that has survived-and thrived in-a radical transformation in business environment in the 1990s.

These survivors know that they cannot afford to rest on their past laurels and competition can vanquish several generations of family fortunes almost overnight. They have tried to prepare the GenNext of their families for an economic transformation that is even more sweeping than the liberalisation of the 1990s-globalisation. Read the profiles of businesses' newest heirs to know how they plan to take on the world.

Gita Piramal is India's best-known business historian. She very generously guided us through several features in this issue. Read her defence of family business, which debunks several myths. Mallika Srinivasan, Director, TAFE, takes us through three generations of her business family. M.V. Subbiah, former Chairman, Murugappa Group, elucidates what Indian culture can teach you about running family businesses that even best B-schools can't.

In A Break from the Past, we showcase the GenNext scions who are spreading their wings way beyond the traditional business of their families. On page 102, you will find out how a clutch of young inheritors is breathing fresh life into family businesses that got swept away by the twin waves of liberalisation and succession squabbling. Then, what is better: having a good succession plan but bad successors or having worthy successors but no succession plan? Find out.