Having family-business agreements and a family business constitution is one way of managing and preventing conflicts within a family business. It is sometimes known as a family creed or strategic plan and is partly a statement of general principles. It outlines your business' core values and vision, and your family's commitment to them. This is also a convenient guide for running a business and a framework you can use when confronting diverse business issues. Through family agreements and a family business constitution you will be pre-empting disagreements and conflicts from arising, thus allowing the family to concentrate on the business rather than waste their energy on useless litigation.

A typical family-business constitution involves various sections including:

1. Management structure
2. Succession and exit policies
3. Communication channels
4. Dispute-resolution processes.

Any family business agreement should be reviewed on a regular basis as this reflect the ongoing changing needs of the family and the business during the passage of time.

A mission statement allows the family and your employees to continuously remember their targets and focuses whilst aiding your clients in understanding your business philosophy and in finding assurance in your products and services.