Profile
Member since 2014
Site Staff, Editor, Family Business Editor
Kimberly Eddleston
Schulze Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship / D'Amore-McKim School of Business / Northeastern University
Authored Resources
6761 views
Students gain exposure to the inner-workings of a business, while entrepreneurs receive a fresh perspective, academic insight and assistance.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
19465 views
For entrepreneurs, doing business with friends can be perilous.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
33486 views
His key ingredients: Learn from others. Listen to customers. Hug your employees.
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Category:
Interviews
4474 views
Here's what happened when Boston-area restaurant owner “Lakis” Vlahoulis let students into the kitchen.
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Category:
Interviews
34337 views
Poornima Vijayashanker discusses how she turned her blog into a thriving business, and why entrepreneurs must be coachable.
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Category:
Interviews
7775 views
This exercise helps entrepreneurship students understand the importance of retooling products to reach new markets.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
Real-Life Drama: Creating a TV Series Based on a Family Business
1772 views
From the "director's chair," students illustrate the challenges of the family firm, and what makes a good one.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
6281 views
How entrepreneurs can test the waters before they roll out a new venture.
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Category:
Commentary
12521 views
In an era when customers are always ready to bolt, here's how Best Buy keeps them coming back.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
The 'Fredo Factor:' How Deadbeats and Troublemakers Hurt Family Businesses
23653 views
As the Corleones and many other family firms have learned, bad-apple relatives can wreak havoc. How to deal with your "Fredo."
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Category:
Applied and Practice
Why Family Firms Are Like Jenga
34896 views
They're sensitive, easily disrupted and conflict-prone. Author Doug Baumoel discusses why they must innovate nonetheless.
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Category:
Interviews
Confidentiality Agreements Promote Candor in Family Business Classes
9862 views
For students to share their own good and bad family experiences in a family business class, confidentiality is essential.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
Being Female Affects Business Loans from Family and Friends
48814 views
A study shows that women entrepreneurs have a harder time getting financing not only from banks, but also from friends and family.
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Category:
Theory and Research
Investing for a Better World: A Conversation with Justin Rockefeller
21136 views
A fifth-generation Rockefeller shares insights about how entrepreneurs and businesses can align investment and values.
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Interviews
Let's Get Professional: Family Firms Need HRM Practices
19534 views
Family business members and students can learn how professional human resources practices can minimize issues.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
How Can the Family Business Cope When a Key Non-family Exec Leaves?
3723 views
"But he was like family!" What one firm learned from an unexpected and devastating departure.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
'There's No Birthright' and Other Tips for Raising Entrepreneurial Leaders
23247 views
Joe Brito shares the management tips that made his four-generation Rhode Island-based construction firm so successful.
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Commentary
What it Takes to Build a Four-Generation Business
29665 views
From a single bulldozer in the 1950s, this top Rhode Island construction firm has thrived by adhering to its founder's core values.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
Trust Me: I'm a Salesman
7318 views
A former police offer had to learn to sell when he became an entrepreneur.
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Commentary
19134 views
A former policeman talks about the challenge of launching his own company selling professional-quality artisanal knives.
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Commentary
50471 views
A 2016 University of Alabama Study concluded that women with a benign touch of psychopathy (callousness, ability to put aside emotions to do a tough job, not afraid to buck gender norms) are more
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Commentary
18092 views
Women Entrepreneurs are growing in number, but much more needs to be done to support them and prepare future generations.
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Commentary
Tavern Has the Recipe for Appeal and Profitability
1729 views
Fickle customers, tricky finances -- how a popular Rhode Island tavern meets the industry's key challenges.
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Commentary
17974 views
New businesses today have both a mandate and an opportunity to build a workplace that not only complies with laws against sexual harassment, but also makes every employee feel respected, safe and comfortable.
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Commentary
The 5 Money Mistakes That Blindside Entrepreneurs
3356 views
Too many families underestimate the business's impact on their personal finances and don't plan for the future.
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Commentary
18938 views
Women have become a powerful part of the global economy, but many college and university entrepreneurship programs are not attracting them. In this interview with EIX's Kim Eddleston, professors
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Commentary
1837 views
Yad has a social mission at its heart: it aims to help Guatemalan artisans with special needs express themselves through art, and then find retailers who can help them reach markets for their work.
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Commentary
6040 views
Vulnerable women living in Colombia are earning money and improving their lives through jewelry-making, thanks to Artyfactos. The company has found markets for the women's creations in the US and
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Category:
Commentary
Trust Your Mentors, and Your Gut
4803 views
The founder of Made Organics encourages entrepreneurs to balance advice from mentors and their own vision.
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Category:
Commentary
5203 views
Many women who want to grow their businesses get in their own way because of how they see themselves. Here's how they can stop selling themselves short.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
Family Business Experts: How to Survive the Holidays Intact
4287 views
Holiday gatherings can be fraught with resentment. Advice from the experts and "Bob's Burgers."
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Commentary
Encouraging Family Business Members to Go the Extra Mile
2584 views
Tight control or adaptability and collaboration? A hybrid of both approaches motivates best.
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Commentary
Becoming the Boss: Advice for Women in Family Businesses
4910 views
More women are taking over their family business from a man, but they're still seen as the wife, daughter, sister or niece rather than the boss.
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Category:
Interviews
245138 views
Northeastern University Professor Stephen L. Golden discusses five mistakes that innovators and companies make that can doom a new product.
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Category:
Interviews
21472 views
Many blockbuster products and companies have started with people who were not engineers, scientists or coders. Fortunately, today they can easily get help developing their product.
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Category:
Interviews
Family Business Professors: Resources For Online Learning
462 views
Many professors are revising their courses for remote learning. Check out our free and peer-reviewed resources that can easily be used in an online course.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
Professors Share Tips for Moving Online
484 views
As classrooms close, teachers are moving classes online. Here are some tips from those who've made the transition.
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Commentary
2014 views
Faculty and students around the world are making a huge transition. Using the right technology and supporting students will be critical. Here's some advice from professors who've learned what works.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
More Advice for Engaging Students Online
241 views
Now that you (successfully) moved your course online, this followup article offers more activities and techniques to incorporate.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
What Family Businesses Should be Doing Now
17977 views
Threats to survival can push family businesses to reassess strengths and weaknesses, look for opportunities and challenges coming their way, and unite behind a challenge.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
Be Part of An Important Survey About Coping With Covid-19
1087 views
We have a unique opportunity to learn from one another and generate new knowledge that will last generations. We need your help!
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Commentary
3288 views
It's possible to start a business while working for someone else, and it can even make you look better to your current boss. But the risks can be great, too. A successful "sidepreneur" shares her secrets.
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Interviews
Women Can Cultivate a Leadership Presence
3394 views
"Gravitas" is a personal attribute that helps women carry themselves like leaders and helps others perceive them that way. It doesn't come naturally.
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Category:
Interviews
2615 views
Colleges and universities everywhere are grappling with how to teach in fall of 2020: online only, on campus or a hybrid. These articles will help entrepreneurship educators be prepared for whatever happens.
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Category:
Commentary
Family Members Can be Valuable Mentors
369 views
Entrepreneur, philanthropist and author Simran Mohinani has great role models among her family members. She talks about balancing the family and mentor relationships and offers advice for future family business leaders and women.
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Interviews
Breaking the Glass Ceiling in a Family Business
13013 views
Despite decades of striving and some progress, women still face challenges. Outdated ideas about primogeniture and a woman's rightful place have not yet gone away, and women still feel too much pressure to prove themselves.
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Category:
Interviews
Daughters prepare to lead family firms
1242 views
Daughters are increasingly assuming leadership roles at family firms. In this video, two future business leaders talk about family expectations, their worries, their hopes for the future and the importance of knowing their value.
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Category:
Interviews
1262 views
Many smart and talented military spouses are becoming entrepreneurs, a path that allows them to thrive professionally even when they can't stay in one place.
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Category:
Interviews
4629 views
With a vaccine on the way, we feel the best advice for 2021 is to focus on what comes next. These articles from the past year can inform your game plan for the post-Covid world that will dawn in a few months.
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Commentary
Team Exercise: How Parenting Styles Affect The Next Generation
1042 views
This experiential exercise is designed to enhance student learning about the four parenting styles and how they affect the dynamics within the family firm.
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Category:
Education and Teaching
Listen to the Experts: How Family Firms are Surviving the Pandemic
6586 views
While some family businesses have closed their doors forever, others have successfully pivoted their business. Four experts discuss what they did right.
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Commentary
Family Firms Can Optimize Women's Strengths
6076 views
Women often juggle many roles in the business and the family, and typically shun the idea of power because they associate it with dictators and manipulation.
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Category:
Interviews
Female Advisors Can Help Family Businesses
34976 views
Women advisors can contribute unique perspectives that often emphasize synergies between the family and business.
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Commentary
Foundations Give Entrepreneurs a Channel for Doing Good
2165 views
Foundations provide a way for entrepreneurs to address societal problems or to help organizations focused on education, health care research or the arts.
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Interviews
Divorce Can Hollow out a Family Business — But it Doesn’t Have to
371 views
It’s surprising how many business-owning families fail to properly plan for this worst case scenario. Here's advice from two experts about protecting the business.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
She Always Gives Her All to the Family Firm -- but He Follows the Leader
3281 views
Women go the extra mile regardless of how they are treated by leadership. Men only exert extra effort in exchange for altruistic leadership.
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Category:
Research Insight
Generous Entrepreneurs Giving Back With Donor-Advised Funds
245 views
Described as a "charitable checkbook," a donor-advised fund can give successful entrepreneurs an easy approach to philanthropy. Here's how they work.
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Interviews
What the Bob Ross Fight Can Teach Business Owners
5657 views
The fight over the beloved TV artist's estate is a cautionary tale for any business. How to protect your business and your heirs well before you die.
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Category:
Features
1336 views
A more generous view of human capability helps companies access a wider pool of talent in an era of profound labor shortages.
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Category:
Interviews
3320 views
How to power through this new phase of supply chain problems, labor shortages, frozen networks and the "great resignation."
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Category:
Commentary
Lessons From the Perdue and Sheraton Families on Getting Along
19368 views
Mitzi Perdue, author of a book about family businesses and widow of Frank and daughter of a Sheraton Hotels founder, shares lessons about family harmony.
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Category:
Interviews
How Family Firms Can Prevent (or Cool Down) Sibling Rivalries
17823 views
Koch Industries, McCain Foods and Robert Mondavi were all roiled by sibling battles. These three strategies will help you prevent it.
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Category:
Applied and Practice
Family Business Experts: How to Survive the Holidays
1190 views
We're republishing this popular article from year-end 2019, which includes timeless advice about getting along from our family business editors.
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Commentary
Strategies for Keeping Your Family Connected
140072 views
We continue our discussion with Mitzi Perdue, widow of Frank and daughter of a Sheraton Hotels founder, who shares what she's learned about family unity.
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Category:
Interviews
Fostering Diversity and Inclusion Can Be Good for Business
1292 views
It can bring stronger connections with customers, better problem solving and enhanced creativity. Here's how to get started.
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Category:
Interviews
Getting Along: Straight Talk from a Family Business Veteran
10892 views
Trust people. Walk around a lot so you meet more non-relatives. And don't show off your new car when the firm is tightening the belt.
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Commentary
Thought Leader Dennis Jaffe: What the Best Family Businesses Get Right
2548 views
Jaffe shares the insights gained from his research into family firms from around the world that have lasted at least three generations.
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Category:
Interviews
Family Firm Values Start at an Early Age
769 views
Values, as Mitzi Perdue points out, help children become responsible stewards of the family business when it's their turn.
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Interviews
How the Next Generation Can Earn Legitimacy, Respect and Loyalty
318 views
Succession can be rocky when the heir is viewed as entitled to the crown, rather than deserving of it. Author Bob Buday talks about how thought leadership can help.
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Interviews
Dealing with Inflation: Advice From the Experts
212919 views
Keep moving forward; adjust your product portfolio and brand; and manage your family and your money.
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Category:
Commentary
32741 views
Startups and family firms with between $10 million and $1 billion in revenue, need different kinds of strategies and leadership, as Rob Sher of Mastering Midsized points out.
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Interviews
Growing Pains? Advice to Recharge and Sustain Growth
23045 views
A family firm that grows into a midsized company may be going through what Rob Sher calls the difficult "teenage years of business." How to manage the transition
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Category:
Interviews
Non-Family Board Members Bring Perspective and Growth
17494 views
The 100-year-old Nielsen-Massey flavorings company, whose vanilla and other products can be found on store shelves everywhere, spiced up its management with non-relatives.
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Category:
Interviews
Should Your Next CEO be From Outside the Family?
13012 views
What happens when the best leader for your family business isn't part of the family? One company decided to look outside, and it improved family relationships.
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Category:
Interviews
How Family Businesses Can Attract and Keep the Best People
2907 views
We interviewed four founders of family businesses to learn about their challenges and what's working.
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Category:
Research Insight
Family Business Professors: 34 Ways to Energize Your Class
1990 views
These free classroom exercises, interviews and other resources will add new energy, fun and inspiration to your students' course work.
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Category:
Commentary
Firm But Flexible Parents Raise the Best Family Business Leaders
7813 views
Overly strict and overly permissive parents are not doing their children or the family business any favors. "Authoritative" parents have the best results.
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Category:
Research Insight
Advice for Untangling Conflict in a Family Business
7917 views
Janme Sinha of Boston Consulting Group talks about how soft emotional issues and hard business issues can tear families apart.
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Category:
Commentary
Should Family Members Be the 'Face' of Your Company?
21625 views
Making family members part of your business's image has both benefits and risks. How to weigh if it's the right move.
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Category:
Commentary
The Family Business 'Generation Gap' Can Undermine Success
4790 views
Money, opportunity and succession are all areas where the generations often don't communicate with each other. Professor Peter Jaskiewicz shares insights from his acclaimed new book.
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Category:
Interviews
Advice for Family Business Successors: Be Humble and Curious
3437 views
The bravado and doggedness that worked for Winston Churchill and Vince Lombardi won't work at family firms, which need a more supportive leadership style.
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Category:
Interviews
New Ways Business Owners Can Use Boards
622 views
Boards can help family firms align the interests of owners and managers, and "keep the wheels on the bus."
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Category:
Commentary
1331 views
EIX and familybusiness.org have a library of articles with research-based best practices for entrepreneurial women. Check them out here.
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Category:
Commentary
International Women's Day 2023: Resources for Family Business Women
268 views
Familybusiness.org and EIX have dozens of articles sharing best practices for entrepreneurial women. You can find them here.
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Category:
Commentary
The Biggest Mistakes Family Businesses Make With Their Boards
771 views
Family business researcher, lecturer and advisor Claudia Astrachan discusses the top mistakes family businesses make in staffing and interacting with boards, and how to do it right.
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Category:
Interviews
Wealth Can be Hazardous to Future Family Business Leaders
3500 views
Substance abuse problems, lack of motivation and failure to launch are just a few of the problems that can plague young people in wealthy families. A counselor weighs in.
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Category:
Interviews
FamilyBusiness.org's Editorial Guidelines for the Use of Generative AI Tools
194 views
You are welcome to use these tools to help draft, revise, and/or expand on submitted articles -- but make sure you understand our rules.
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Category:
Commentary
FamilyBusiness.org Forges Alliance With Family Business Review
91 views
Alliance will offer family-led enterprises around the world research-tested advice on how to build, manage and sustain vibrant businesses.
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Category:
Research Insight
One Family, Multiple Businesses: Preserving Harmony and Profits
111 views
Families with several businesses under their umbrella face competition for resources and family attention. The right governance can help everyone thrive.
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Category:
Interviews
Editor's Picks
No a**hole rule by Robert Sutton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS2GBq5lKAUThis video offers an overview of Robert Sutton's Harvard Business Review article and book titled: "The No A**hole Rule." It reminds us about the need to be civil in the workplace and not to tolerate bad behavior. From an entrepreneurship standpoint, it highlights the need for good leadership and the importance of creating an organizational environment that brings out the best in people.
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