Case Name :      Babbitt Ranches: Governance and Strategic Planning in a Family Business

Authors :           Lisa F Majure, Kathryn S Savage

Source :             North American Case Research Association (NACRA)

Case ID :            NA0068

Discipline :        Entrepreneurship

Case Length :    24 pages

Solution sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

The board of Babbitt Ranches had officially adopted a constitution to guide the future of the family business. Babbitt Ranches was a fourth-generation, 122 year old family firm with extensive landholdings in Arizona. The firm’s board recognized responsibility and obligation to organizational, ecological, economical, and community values through multiple bottom-line criteria in the new constitution. In addition, the constitution reinforced the family’s heritage by outlining a philosophy designed to direct processes, interactions, and critical decisions. Several business opportunities were being considered by the board that could be evaluated using the framework provided by the constitution. The challenge for Billy Cordasco, the firm’s president, was to operationalize the constitution to evaluate the current set of opportunities and to ensure the constitution was used as a “touchstone” for firm decisions on an ongoing basis.