ABSTRACT
Family firms have multiple nodes that connect them with the regions in which they are located, for example providing jobs and professional training, paying taxes, and engaging in regional philanthropy. The regional anchoring of family firms thus plays an important role in regional economies and, especially, in rural ones. In this sense, family firms’ transgenerational continuity is essential to keeping the regional link stable over time. However, family firm succession threatens not only firm survival but also regional stability. In this sense, the topic of family firm succession has received less academic and policy attention in terms of their regional ties across generations. To begin addressing this issue, I wonder whether successors have the same regional bonds as their predecessors. To investigate how succession affects the regional anchoring of family firms, this chapter analyses the characteristics of successors, their network connections, and their beliefs on how to do business. Based on a qualitative approach and through the lens of an institutional perspective, I explore case studies of successors in Basque family firms and analyse differences in the attitudes and behaviours between predecessors and successors. These differences indicate that successors have weaker regional embedding than their predecessors – i.e., the existence of regional dis-embedding process. This chapter discusses the potential consequences of family firm dis-embedding for regions and their economic development.
