y’s partners Hosts Roundtable with Wharton Professor Raffi Amit on Family Business Succession

• “The answer to succession lies in designing communication and governance structures.”

• Beyond legal and tax advisory — The rise of ‘trusted external advisors’ for tailored K-governance

• Professor Raffi Amit highlights the three pillars of governance and the vital role of first-generation founder leadership

y’s partners, a governance advisory firm, hosted an expert roundtable at its headquarters in Seoul. The event featured Professor Raffi Amit, a world-renowned scholar in family business governance and global advisor to y’s partners, who serves as the Marie and Joseph Melone Professor and a Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. The discussion centered around the theme: “K-Governance and Family Enterprise Succession: Communication is Key.”

Chaired by James Choi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of y’s partners, the roundtable brought together Professor Amit; Jun Soo Kwon, Chair Professor of Psychiatry at Hanyang University; Soon-moo So, Senior Advisor/Attorney at Gaon Law Group; Jinseok Yoo, Managing Partner of The Answer Partners ltd; Hyo-sang Yoo, President of the Unicorn Business Economics Research Institute; Conan B Lee, Advisor at Gaon Law Group; Yvonne Park, Founder & CEO of y’s partners and Wang Yang, Co-Founder & Partner of y’s partners.

Delivering the opening presentation, Yang introduced the “K-Governance Succession Framework,” designed to ensure successful generational transitions for Korean family enterprises.

“Founders often avoid conversations that imply their own mortality, children stay quiet out of fear of appearing unfilial, and executives remain silent to avoid overstepping boundaries,” Yang pointed out. “This ‘absence of communication’ is a common thread in failed succession stories. Even putting aside the challenges of high inheritance and gift taxes, this is a critical gap that legal and tax advisory alone cannot bridge.”

To establish K-governance succession tailored for Korean family enterprises—which feature a high proportion of publicly listed companies—Yang proposed a three-pillar framework consisting of Communication, Performance, and Stakeholders.

“‘Communication’ involves breaking the silence by creating a structured dialogue system, ranging from family interviews to operating family councils and drafting family charters,” Yang explained.

“‘Performance’ refers to a structure where successors are evaluated based on proven capabilities, thereby supporting next-generation leadership and securing succession funding. Finally, ‘Stakeholder support’ is the process of expanding internal family consensus into endorsement from employees, shareholders, and the media, ultimately elevating it to social legitimacy—a ‘Social License.’”

He added that succession is not merely the transfer of shares, but a process of designing governance that prevents future conflicts. Moving beyond conventional strategy proposals, Yang stated that y’s partners will serve as a multi-dimensional governance partner on the ground, actively executing everything from establishing and operating family governance to supporting long-term capital engagement and external communication.

Professor Raffi Amit Outlines the Core Framework of Governance

Professor Amit, who presented next, emphasized that the core of family business governance is designing a balance between family harmony and sustained financial prosperity. He noted that succession is not a one-time event, but an intricate process prepared over a long period, adding that what matters is not the presence of conflict, but having the structures and systems to manage it.

Professor Amit began his presentation by stressing that to have proper discussions on succession, one must first understand the fundamental framework and concepts of family enterprise governance. He clarified that a Family Enterprise is a broad concept encompassing a portfolio of assets—including non-core businesses, financial assets, family offices, and philanthropic foundations held by a business family—moving beyond just a single Family Business.

He also drew a clear line between a Family Office and a standard Private Asset Management organization.

A Family Office is an organization that manages both the assets of the family enterprise and the very lives of the family members. It serves as a platform supporting family harmony and long-term prosperity by coordinating investments, asset allocation, succession, inheritance, trust design, family governance, communication, risk management, next-generation education, and philanthropy.

He highlighted Family Councils, Family Charters, and Independent Directors as key mechanisms for managing conflict and institutionalizing trust. Good governance is not just a document, but a process of building consensus together as a family, Professor Amit said, adding that when there is a trusted facilitator, conflict can be transformed into a foundation for growth.

Furthermore, Professor Amit stressed that orderly succession is only possible when it is structured across three distinct pillars: Ownership, Management, and Control.

To illustrate, he shared an example of a Hong Kong family enterprise that preserved both cultural face and corporate interests by appointing a son uninterested in operations as non-executive chairman, while handing operational control to a highly capable daughter. While some believe Confucian culture or Korean sentiments make governance difficult, cultural traits are not absolute constraints but rather a matter of leadership, Professor Amit emphasized. He added that with proper mediation and a trusted external partner, Korea can absolutely establish healthy succession structures.

Panelists Agree on the Evolving Role of Trusted External Partners

During the subsequent discussion, participants broadly agreed on the growing importance of trusted external partners within Korea's unique environment.

• Professor Jun Soo Kwon said that because succession is deeply intertwined with internal family psychological dynamics, the role of an external partner is becoming increasingly vital in mediating conflicts—particularly those arising between the concepts of Equality (equal distribution) and Equity (contribution-based distribution).

• Attorney Soon-moo So pointed out that amid employment uncertainties driven by AI adoption, stringent tax benefits for family business succession can easily become a 'trap' due to strict post-management requirements. Combined with the absence of golden shares or dual-class voting rights and the limitations of heavy inheritance taxes, institutional reforms must move hand-in-hand with a shift in succession culture to bear fruit, So noted.

• Managing Partner Jinseok Yoo emphasized that succession cannot be resolved through share transfers alone. It requires an integrated design that systematizes management, drives long-term value growth strategies, restructures corporate governance, and secures retirement funds for the first generation, Yoo said.

• Advisor Conan B Lee suggested that given voting right restrictions on trusts and escalating intergenerational conflicts, a 'happy separation' rather than forced succession might be a better solution as companies transition into the second and third generations.

• President Hyo-sang Yoo added that it is difficult to copy-paste global case studies of long-lasting companies directly into Korea, emphasizing the urgent need to discuss a customized K-Governance model that reflects domestic realities.

  
  

Closing Remarks: A Partnership Built on Listening

Yvonne Park, Founder & CEO of y’s partners, said, “Meeting family business members across multiple generations has taught me that what matters most is a partner who truly understands the unique characteristics of Korean governance and shifting societal trends, and who can genuinely listen to the client’s thoughts and wishes.” She added, “We aim to be a multi-dimensional partner that embraces the mindset of ‘listening to learn, and learning to listen.’”