The Gulf is littered with examples of what happens when family businesses do just that. Family feuds, judgements in Sharia court and the disintegration of once solid organisations have all been seen. Several high profile spats have highlighted the problems in Saudi Arabia, but elsewhere many families are in denial. Al Fahim says he knows of several large family enterprises which will founder if their ageing patriarchs die before restructuring is carried out. But this is something people can not speak about openly.
Nobody likes to talk about the death of a family member.
Denial, of course, rarely makes good business sense. And with greater competition coming to the Gulf courtesy of the WTO, not to mention investment opportunities opening up throughout the region, says Dr Sabah, there are now more reasons than ever before to get organised. They have to resist the urge to put somebody from the family into senior positions, when they might not necessarily be the right person. Firms must start forming alliances, get some new visions, or if they haven't got them get people who have. Without restructuring, they may miss out not just on overseas expansion but in their own domestic markets.