Succession in Small and Medium-Sized Family Businesses: Toward a Typology of Predecessor Roles During and After Instatement of the Successor

Abstract

The last two steps in the succession process—the joint management and withdrawal phases—differ from preceding phases in that they mark the successor's official entry into the family business as future head and the gradual retirement of the predecessor. Alone at the helm until that point, predecessors are faced with an important period of transition in their life where their role as leader is replaced by other roles that have not yet been clearly defined in the existing literature. Using a case study research strategy, this article presents a typology of predecessor roles during and after instatement of the successor from five small and medium-sized family businesses that have successfully completed their first generational transfer.