Heladería Roma: challenges of succession in a climate of distrust

This case considers the problems of family unity and organizational commitment that a Mexican family business must deal with when faced with the challenges of succession after the second generation has joined the business. After 45 years at the helm of ice cream company Heladería Roma, Guadalupe, the founder, is tired and overwhelmed by the complexity that managing the company has acquired. Her two sons and her daughter work as managers in the business, and two of them don’t trust each other. Guadalupe has long seen the problem of disunity, and she seeks help from external consultants to find a solution. Seeing how two of her three children are fighting and acting on their own, she does not rule out selling the firm to an outsider. Or so she tells her children, who don’t seem to care much about the threat of an acquisition.