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The purpose of this research is to study the influence of professionalization on Moroccan family businesses and the challenges that hinder its success.

The design is based on exploratory qualitative approach based on semi-directive interviews with 15 CEOs of unlisted Moroccan family businesses to gain a better understanding of CEOs' perceptions of management professionalization.

This research work gives rise to a result that professionalization helps family businesses cope with their competitive environment, improve the quality of strategic decisions and thus increase their performance. However, successful professionalization process requires certain cognitive, managerial, cultural and emotional skills that allow the overcoming of socio-emotional barriers and guarantee the efficacious implementation of change.

This paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.

The originality of this paper lies in the analysis of the influence of professionalization on the family businesses' in the Moroccan context and the proposal of professionalization tracks to align with market requirements and strengthen the competitiveness of the company. Thus, this paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.

The purpose of this research is to study the financial, family, and cultural incidences on the investment policy of unlisted Moroccan family firms passed on to the second generation or more in times of crisis.

The design is based on an innovative methodological approach of contextualization in times of crisis with 20 unlisted Moroccan family firms, 3 sociologists and 2 researcher-experts in times of crisis.

This research work gives rise to a result that can be summarized through a logic of combined rationality. Explicitly, in the family business, it is necessary to combine the two effects: financial rationality in times of crisis, and the emotionality that reigns in family logic (everything that is culture, family traditions and psychological backgrounds) to make arbitrations in terms of investments.

Thus, the originality of this research is rooted by a field made up of transmitted Moroccan family firms. The major problems related to the investment of the family firm begin to emerge once there are a multitude of generations involved in the management. This accentuates the family and socio-cultural effects of family reputation and religiosity and the firm's strategic imitation. In this sense, this paper proposes a way forward in the research on family businesses, by integrating family and cultural logics following a hybrid approach that integrates these factors with classical financial logics.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the main factors of family harmony in Moroccan family businesses.

Exploratory approach based on face-to-face interviews was employed to examine how Moroccan family firm owners perceive the main factors of preserving family harmony in the long term.

In the present exploratory study, the importance of having an open communication among family members is emphasized. The findings that were reached suggest that the relationship between family members must be built on trust and commitment, without neglecting the importance of autonomy at work including division of tasks. Furthermore, the respect of the family and the business emerged as one of the most paramount components of our exploratory study.

Based on our exploratory study, the authors developed a model of the main factors of family harmony in the Moroccan family business considering the culture and habits of the country.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to examine the financial implications of Maghreb Steel’s substantial investment in the Blad Assolb complex in 2007 within the restructuring plan; explore how this decision influenced the company’s financial health and strategic position in the steel market, within the context of the restructuring plan; assess the impact of the 2008 economic crisis within the restructuring plan; analyze how the crisis affected the company’s pricing strategies, profitability and overall business strategy; investigate the financial and strategic consequences of the hot rolling activity initiated as a result of the Blad Assolb project within the company’s restructuring plan; and critique how this venture impacted the company’s operations, cost structure and competitiveness in the steel industry, aligned with the restructuring plan.

This case study deals with the only flat steel producer in Morocco: Maghreb Steel, the Moroccan family-owned company created in 1975 by the Sekkat family. It was a leading steel company. At the beginning, the company was specialized in the field of steel tubes, but thanks to its growth ambitions, the Sekkat family had made Maghreb Steel a major player in the Moroccan steel sector. In the same logic of development, the top management of Maghreb Steel launched in 2007 in the adventure to create the first production complex of cold rolling in Morocco – an investment that pushed Maghreb Steel to resort to a debt of more than 6bn dirhams (DH) with a consortium of six banks and would have allowed the company a huge leap in growth, except that the decision-makers of the group Sekkat could not see coming the economic crisis of 2008 causing the fall of steel prices by 62% compared to 2007. Thus, from its effective launch in 2010, the activity of hot rolling would become, for the company, a regrettable orientation. Moreover, the national market could not absorb all the production of the complex that the company called Blad Assolb. In response to this difficult situation, Maghreb Steel decided to store its goods to avoid selling at a loss. Faced with this situation of sectoral crisis and deterioration of its activity, Maghreb Steel lost its ability to honor its financial commitments with the banking consortium. From then on, the company became a case of failure, and the recovery measures had not ceased to be duplicated by the various stakeholders: State, Sekkat family, creditors and management of the company, having only one objective in mind: Save Maghreb Steel! This said, the present case study is dedicated to the financial and strategic analysis of the current situation and the evolution of the company throughout the crisis period to finally propose a suitable recovery plan to save Maghreb Steel.

The case study can be taught to students of master’s degrees in financial management as a synthesis of finance courses. It can also be used to train executives and managers working in family businesses as part of professional certification training.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and finance.