ABSTRACT
Family businesses that aim to thrive into the next generation need to understand succession and the dangers and opportunities it brings. Management succession is about developing the next generation of managers and directors of the family’s businesses, both family and non-family members. Succession is often assumed to consist of passing the baton from one family member to another, but in practice there are many alternatives that family businesses adopt. Alternatives to family ownership succession are very rarely discussed in the research literature but it is not a foregone conclusion that family business owners will pass the business to the next generation, or that the next generation will wish to take on the family business. Succession studies and guidance have concentrated mainly on longevity of the firm. Succession can provide a trigger for entrepreneurial action, and alternatives to gifting the business to a succeeding generation can provide resources for expanding a family’s portfolio of businesses.
