Family Entrepreneurship and Succession

Firm Performance, Entrenchment and Managerial Succession in Family Firms

This paper investigates whether the family status of a company’s top officer affects managerial replacement decisions in UK firms. We report evidence that family firms are characterized by higher levels of board control and weak internal governance in the form of independent company board structures. Consistent with a managerial entrenchment hypothesis, we find evidence that family CEOs are les...

Family Businesses: The Extensiveness of Succession Problems and Possible Solutions

Understanding Small Family Business Succession in a Knowledge Management Perspective

Business succession in family firms has been one of the most investigated topics through theoretical, empirical and anecdotal studies (Brockhaus, 2004; Sharma, 2004; and Ward, 2004). However, we argue that this bulk of literature seems to neglect the role of the most intangible source of competitive advantage of firms: knowledge. At the same time, small family firms, although representing most ...

Management Succession in Family-owned SMEs: Learning from Failure

Succession is acknowledged to be especially critical in small organizations, as it is estimated that in the EU alone there is a risk of losing 150,000 firms due to transfer problems and only one third of family businesses “survive” their founder. As the vast majority of firms are in fact family businesses and SMEs, the economic impact of these unsuccessful successions is great. There exists a s...

Succession Issues within Family Enterprises in Transition Economies

In countries with a long history of entrepreneurship and market economy, significant research efforts have been devoted to family business succession. Such studies are rare in former communist countries, mainly because private enterprises were outlawed during the socialist economy era. Considering reports on the importance and complexity of succession issues, and taking into account the ageing ...