Keeping The Founders' Spirit Alive

According to the economist Joseph Schumpeter, the entrepreneurial spirit is a process of constant reinvention through innovation. Entrepreneurship has also been described as the art of creating new companies. The entrepreneur spots an unsatisfied demand and assembles a company that can respond to this market requirement. Estée Lauder, for instance, was interested in finding a way to counter the damaging effects of the sun on people's skin, and so launched a line of cosmetics offering sun protection. Can such a spirit be kept alive from generation to generation, beyond the vision of the company founder? IESE professors Pedro Nueno, the Bertrán Foundation Chair of Entrepreneurship, and Josep Tàpies, the Chair of Family-Owned Business, believe it is possible.