Succession process in a family business

Abstract

In family businesses, important decisions are made, ranging from selling the company, raising external financing and giving up part of the family power, diversifying, merging or incorporating more family members, to the crucial problem of succession, which must be assumed with preparation, so as not to affect its continuity and stability. The family business studied is in its third generation, and the second succession process recently took place, so the objective of this study is to understand how this process was carried out and what problems were faced at the family and business levels. The focus of the study is qualitative, the case study method was used. The results show that the second succession process was not carried out under a pre-established plan, but rather occurred as a series of events to a certain extent fortuitous, without, from the perspective of the protagonists, having generated conflicts. So for the next succession, not even a plan has been made, since according to those involved, it will be presented gradually and from there they will recognize the next successor. This way of looking at the succession process challenges established theoretical approaches, which conceive of this process as something that should be planned to reduce the risk of failure in the transfer of power, through a succession of clearly differentiated stages, while in the case studied intuition seems to have been an important element in the decision.