Teaching Lessons

April 25, 2007 (LBO) – Two successful family owned businesses, Hemas Holdings Limited and Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL), have become case studies for students of a Sri Lankan post graduate school. The project was conducted by the faculty and students of the Post Graduate Institute of Management (PIM), funded by the USAID under The Competitiveness Programme (TCP).

Foreign case studies are often incompatible with the local business context, so we welcome these well-researched local studies centered on two very successful Sri Lankan companies," Uditha Liyanage, Head of Academic Affairs at PIM, said Tuesday at a ceremony to handover the case studies.

"In our scheme of things, MBA stands for Making Business-learning Action-oriented. It is a case of learning by doing, which is where case studies come in.

PIM uses such case studies as a principal teaching tool in its MBA program.

The two companies were selected on the basis of sustained outstanding growth performance, according to The Competitiveness Program, which donated management case studies to the PIM at the PIM auditorium.

Statistics show that only 13 percent of family businesses survive 50 years and only fo