Estée Lauder

As family enterprises tap into virtual reality technologies, many are discovering new avenues for growth and sharper lines of communication. Scott McCulloch reports

Banishing the myth of family businesses as technological laggards, cutting-edge families are deftly exploiting new technologies to beef up productivity, sharpen communications and connect with customers in real, virtual, and emotional ways.

Whether its family members taking over top leadership positions, or businesses who’ve beaten Apple in corporate reputation rankings, we’ve got the leaders steering their family businesses in innovative and interesting directions

Good results news for Estee Lauder, MasTec, Marriott, McGraw Hill and Loblaw, tough times for Loews and Volkswagen.

Estee Lauder (2 May)
Estee Lauder, the skin care company controlled by the eponymous family, announced 2% sales increases for the third quarter of 2013 to $2.29 billion (€1.7 billion).

But profits rose dramatically to $178.8 million, as the group's restructuring efforts of the past couple of years began to deliver cost savings.

The granddaughter of Estee Lauder, who founded the eponymous cosmetics giant, has been promoted as part of the company’s “strategic organisational redesign”, continuing the tradition of family control of the firm.

On 29 November, the company, which is majority owned by the Lauder family, said Jane Lauder, is to become the global president and general manager of Darphin – one of the firm’s skincare brands – in the new year.