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This article explores succession within Asian family firms by considering whether experiences of succession are influenced by ethnicity. To understand these factors and develop strategies to assist succession this article explores experiences of Kenyan Asian family businesses. While British Asian firms are facing succession for the first time, a large proportion of the Kenyan Asian business community has already experienced first generation succession and the survivors are now preparing for round two. By drawing on the experiences of the Kenyan cases this article argues the findings may be applied to their British counterparts. The key findings from this article identify mothers of the heirs as crucial buffers between the generations. Previous experiences of succession have caused devastating splits both for the business and the family resulting in considerable motivation to invest resources into long-term planning as illustrated by the unexpected emphasis on separation of ownership and management. Finally, while ethnicity is argued to have a significant impact on succession, the situation is compounded by vast attitudinal differences between the generations, potentially leading to a time bomb within family firms.

Reciprocity is a theoretical framework that has a substantial pedigree, being a recurring concept in many religions and philosophical approaches. It is also an important aspect of organizational life. Inter-generational succession in family enterprises is the most critical determinant of their long-term survival (Morris et al., 1997). Reciprocal behaviour is inherent in family relationships and thereby an important influence on relationships within family firms. By applying reciprocity theory to family firm succession, we adopt an integrated view of family firms incorporating their kinship and community contexts, as a means of understanding the dynamics between family members and hence issues affecting survival. Existing theories of reciprocity, such as moral reciprocity, mutual reciprocity, univocal reciprocity and intergenerational reciprocity, are inadequate in helping us to understand the dynamics of family firm succession. A new development of reciprocity theory is proposed resulting in a conceptual framework for family firm succession called Bounded Intergenerational Reciprocity.

Women in ethnic businesses have often been heralded as a critical labour resource but at the same time exploited and unacknowledged for their significant contribution. This paper considers the role of women in Asian businesses by adopting a very different perspective. The cases reviewed consider family businesses (defined as having two or more generations involved in the ownership and management of the business) and the role of the mother as a mediator between both generations. Previous research on working dynamics in the family business field has focused almost exclusively on the power struggles between the founder (typically the father) and the heir (usually the son). The central thrust of this paper is to explore these working dynamics by focusing on the involvement and subsequent impact of the mother of the successor (also the wife of the founder). The research identifies the mother's role as a critical buffer between the generations, which is generally not recognised, let alone acknowledged by the family members experiencing transition. This paper adopts an unusual approach in its methodology by interviewing the founder and successor only, rather than the mother as well. By following this somewhat unorthodox approach I argue that the involvement of the mother is critical to the business. However, how it is perceived by key family members in the business is even more important as this will determine whether she has a platform to assert herself as an equal party or needs to adopt a dexterous approach in order to balance relations. The paper draws on data collected from Asian family firms based in Britain.

Business School. Mathew has a background in Sociology, Anthropology and Business Administration. He has lectured in the fields of Business Ethics and Business Administration.