The fear of family business succession
Email Article With reminders of the well know phases ‘1st generation starts the business, 2nd generation builds the business, 3rd generation kills the business’ and ‘from clogs to clogs in three generations’, is there any surprise that sons and daughters are nervous about continuing the legacy of the family businesses?
Over the last 20 years CMC has noticed a drop in family succession businesses. Could this be due to the rapid pace of change and increased opportunities or is it simply fear? Parents don’t want to put the stress and strain onto their children that they experienced and the children fear of being overshadowed by their parent’s success. These emotions are understandable and normal for family successions but with careful planning the business could build on its existing success for another generation.
Family businesses can have a number of advantages – a strong company culture, greater staff loyalty, a valuable heritage and a clearer incentive to see the business do well.
It is no secret that family successions are a complicated exit option with family politics and potential conflicts involved. Using a trusted business advisor can help take the emotion out of the succession. CMC has guided many family businesses through succession over the last 20 years. We use our broad business skills to guide the family, encouraging parents to ‘give’ and children to ‘take’ at the appropriate times in the succession. CMC understand that this is a challenging but exciting time for the family and with emotions running high, defusing conflict is just part of our role.
It’s no surprise to CMC there’s fear associated with exchanging the family business over to the next generation but it is surprising to see a decline in family business successions.
Any comments would be welcomed
Reader Comments (2)
Selling the business to the employees can be a great succession solution for family businesses which enables the company to remain independent and ensure that the strong company culture and legacy continues. This particularly appeals to business owners who value the loyality of their employees and recognise the part they have had to pay in the success of the company.
See www.baxipartnership.co.uk
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