A growing number of students are pursuing M.B.A.s in order to develop the skills they'll need to help their families' businesses prosper. Business schools are responding with a flurry of new courses that focus on the unique challenges of homegrown businesses: the patriarch who insists that the approach he inherited from his father works better than any plan a whippersnapper with an M.B.A. could come up with; the siblings whose squabbling is threatening to sink the business and ruin Thanksgiving, and the brother-in-law with a high-school education who insists he's management material. They are also hoping to teach business students of all kinds some of the traits that make many family-run businesses multigenerational success stories, the ones whose employees are willing to work long hours for modest pay because they believe in the company and care about their co-workers, and the companies that don't obsess over quarterly profits as long as their long-term vision remains intact. Arthur Kraft, chairman of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, said interest in offering courses on family businesses has been growing, often as an outgrowth of programs in entrepreneurship. In addition to M.B.A. programs, many colleges and universities offer undergraduate courses on the subject, and some have institutes that work with local businesses.