Successful generational change in family business

Purpose – Family businesses (FBs) share common characteristics and face common problems, among which the generational change is recognized to be the most relevant one. During recent years, there has been a growing interest in the study of FBs. Notwithstanding, little attention has been paid to succession planning, and only few studies tried to identify which factors influence its success. The aim of this paper is to identify which factors may influence the succession process. Design/methodology/approach – First a literature review is conducted, aiming to identify the main phases of a succession process and the factors that are relevant for its planning and management. Then, ten case studies of Italian FBs are analyzed. Findings – The result is the development of a research framework and the identification of the factors that impact on the generational change’s success. Moreover, best practices that emerge from the case studies are presented. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation refers to the case study based research that on one hand provides empirical evidence of theoretical assumptions and to exhaustively examine a problem to be studied, on the other, its results are not suitable to be generalized. Practical implications – Managers of FBs may understand how to plan and manage successfully the succession process in order to survive the generational change. Originality/value – The paper adds further elements to the long debate about the theme of succession, trying to better understand the factors of a successful succession.