SEMCO is a successful Brazilian family business. Family businesses have a certain fabric, which is hard to define. However, it will make or break the business. This ?fabric? frequently manifests itself in a desire to ensure that the business survives in the long term. This will often be the main reason why the business survives difficult times or why it is destroyed in perfectly good times. While the former is obvious, in the case of the latter it is most commonly the father that forces the son to continue in the business. This will usually be against the desire of the son or maybe even despite the fact that he clearly might not have the ability to run a business.

People are usually quick to blame the father for trying to force siblings to continue in the business. However, this behaviour is understandable if one looks into the history of the businesses. You will usually find that the first generation endured great hardship and made many sacrifices to ensure the survival of the business. SEMCO is no different.

The story of the first SECMO generation of the Semler family started in 1912 when Antonio Curt Semler was born in Vienna, Austria. Although his father, a dentist, wanted him to be a physician he became an engineer. What is it with fathers wanting to decide the destiny of their children? Anyway, the young Antonio was soon off to Argentina as a newly recruited employee of DuPont. 1952 marked the first year in which the Semlers set foot on Brazilian soil. Antonio had plans for his own business and thought Brazil might be the place. With a prophetic touch he decided his future from a hill overlooking S?o Paulo thinking, ?This is a place for an entrepreneur?.

Of course we know, not that we readily admit it, that behind every successful man stands an angry woman with a broomstick. The lady of the moment is one Renee Weinmann. The Weinmanns left their native Austria and built a very successful exporting business in Shanghai. Then things went horribly wrong. Renee?s father passed away and shortly after, Mao Ze Dong decided that all foreigners have to leave Mainland China? immediately! Destiny steered Renee and her mother towards Brazil where Renee started giving English lessons to the wealthy of S?o Paulo of which one introduced her to Antonio. Not that Antonio was wealthy, it just seems he had a couple of rich friends. However, he was working very hard on the plans for Semler & Company. In their dingy two-bedroom apartment a machine was born, which extracted oil from vegetables and a business to go with it. Say hallo to SEMCO.

Success came early, because SEMCO quickly became the market leader. With success came much needed capital and partners. Maybe SEMCO was just rising with the tide, because the Brazilian economy was growing by 7% annually. SEMCO branched out into marine pumps after Brazil started its five-year National Ship Building plan.

Ricardo Semler, Dickie or later Dr Dickie was born into all this. Initial aspirations of becoming a rock star eventually fell by the wayside for?well to be perfectly honest, a lack of talent. Although Ricardo doesn?t have a penchant to admit it he did show early promise as a businessman. His success in running the school cafeteria and the description of him in the school?s yearbook, ?At school on business only? alluded to this. He successfully dodged a stint in the army, went off to law school and eventually ended up at SEMCO as Dr Dickie (Dr is a title automatically given to graduates in Brazil).

SEMCO was ripe for change. Well it kind of had to if SEMCO and Ricardo were to become a lifelong match. Ricardo, just as headstrong as his father, weren?t the one who was going to do the changing and the two simply weren?t compatible. In true manufacturing style things were very rigid, stiff and organized when Ricardo arrived. His father?s daily routine was a good reflection of this. He would get up at EXACTLY 6h30 every single morning. Three times a week he will have an early round of golf before going to the plant a bit later. Otherwise he was off to the plant straight away. He had lunch at home. Napped for exactly 15 minutes after lunch, before leaving for work again. He would walk through the front door again for dinner at exactly 19h45.

So do you think there were tensions between this rigid character and the energetic young, rock star wannabe? You bet, but more on that next week.

Whatever you are up to, I hope it is profitable and ethical!

Mr. B

mail_mrb@yahoo.com

Posted: 2003/04/22 09:02 View Archive