Unique competition for high school students to attract young talent to family businesses

Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) at Jönköping University is launching a new competition to attract young talent for family businesses in Jönköping County. The Family Entrepreneurship Schools Tournament is designed to help high school students in Jönköping develop skills and see family businesses as appealing employers. It's also meant to strengthen Jönköping's reputation as a hub for family businesses.

Family businesses often struggle to attract young talent. This is particularly acute in Jönköping County, where awareness of the large number of successful medium-sized family businesses in the region is relatively low. The Family Business Schools Tournament (FEST), organized by the Centre for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership (CeFEO) at JIBS in collaboration with Jönköping municipality and Ung Företagsamhet (UF), addresses this problem.

The competition targets second-year high school students in Jönköping, who will work in teams. High school teachers will integrate the competition into their curriculum and help the students prepare. CeFEO will create the case that the students will have to solve. The case will deal with real challenges faced by family businesses in Jönköping.

"This concept is great for the companies, students, and teachers. It shows local family businesses in a good light to high school students and JIBS. Plus, it gives the students a chance to practice their entry-level management and entrepreneurial skills. The concept is a great way for high school teachers to teach about family businesses and entrepreneurship," says Joaquín Cestino Castilla, Assistant Professor in Business Administration at JIBS and one of the project leaders.

From classroom case studies to final at JIBS

The competition will engage students from the economic program at three Jönköping high schools and has three stages.

Stage 1: In-School Case Exercise (Fall 2024) Teachers will integrate a family business case study into their curriculum, ending with a team presentation. Students will work on a case based on a real-life local family firm in Jönköping.

Stage 2: Online Classificatory (January 2025) Groups wishing to compete for a spot in the final will submit video presentations to be judged by a jury at JIBS. The top two teams from each school will advance to the final stage.

Stage 3: Final at JIBS (April 2025) Finalists compete in a two-day event at JIBS, tackling another, more in-depth case study from the same local family firm in Jönköping with mentoring from JIBS students. The teams will present their solutions to a grand jury and the best one will be awarded.

As preparation for the competition, teachers from the participating high schools attended a workshop on family business and case study teaching, organised by CeFEO in June. This will be followed by a lecture on family entrepreneurship for all high school students on October 10 at JIBS, which will also be open to JIBS students.

Lena Bäckman, principal of Erik Dahlbergsgymnasiet, sees great advantages in the concept, especially in terms of developing teaching and strengthening collaboration with the university. She is very positive about the fact that it is a real-life case that is well-anchored in the content of the curriculum.

"I think this initiative will increase students' motivation to study. The ambition is also that the collaboration, the promotion of entrepreneurial learning, and the contact areas created between the high school, university, and industry will also have positive effects on other studies and how young people ultimately establish themselves in the labour market, says Lena Bäckman.