The focus of this report is the process of providing for intergenerational succession in family businesses. Specifically, this report presents the findings of a mini literature review on the topic. The primary goal of the mini literature review is to identify factors that have important influences on the success of the intergenerational succession processes in family businesses. Subsequently, the factors that are identified in this report will provide a framework for an assessment of primary data collected from family businesses with respect to the intergenerational succession process.
The intergenerational succession process in family businesses is important because of the high rate of attrition among family businesses that initially were successful. Most family businesses are formed by a strong, narrowly focused entrepreneur. A high proportion of these businesses that attained success, however, fail to survive the succession process to the second generation. Even fewer survive to the third generation (Ibrahim, Angelidis, and Parsa, 2008). The failure of such companies represents significant costs to the families involved, as well as reflecting social costs and economic costs for the broader society (Stanaland, 2008). Counterproductive intergenerational succession processes are the chief culprits in such failures (Danes, Loy, and Stafford, 2008).
The following section of this report, "Analysis and Discussion", reviews three peer-reviewed journal articles that deal with the issue of intergenerational succession in family businesses. In this section of the report, the objectives are addressed. First, the reviewed articles are identified. Second, important factors reported in the articles that affect the success of intergenerational succession in family businesses are defined. Third, the findings of the three articles in relation to each of the defined factors are analyzed and compared.
The final t...