Successional Issues within Asian Family Firms

Abstract

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.

The impact of the mother during family business succession: examples from the Asian business community

“…However, it is possible to identify certain aspects of the Asian culture that may reinforce the importance of the mother's role within family firms. Whilst considerable research has focused on the importance of culture on ethnic entrepreneurship, ethnic dimensions to family business research is a relatively new area of research (Bachkaniwala et al 2001;Basu 2000;Janjuha-Jivraj and Woods 2002). Yet, as stated earlier in this paper, there are problems when applying existing models to family dynamics and business behaviour, as the impact of cultural differences on families and businesses are often ignored.…”

Social ties, prior experience, and venture creation by transnational entrepreneurs

“…First generation Asian migrants arrived in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (Dhaliwal and Adcroft, 2005). Historically, existing literature on the British Asian community has tended to treat various sub-groups as a homogeneous mass (Janjuha-Jivraj and Woods, 2002), and much of the academic literature has been aimed at defining and explaining differences between ethnic minority small firms and those of the general small business community (Ram and Smallbone, 2002). However, the Asian British comprise a number of smaller groups, each with different languages.…”

Processo Sucessório: Estudo de Caso Em Uma Organização Familiar de Pequeno Porte do Ramo Imobiliário Conduzida Por Mulheres

“…Alguns fatores culturais contribuem, muitas vezes, para que a atuação feminina na sucessão dos negócios familiares ocorra por meio da influência silenciosa, tal como mães sendo mediadoras no processo sucessório (Janjuha-Jivraj & Woods, 2002 Jimenez (2009) assinala que as diferenças na socialização entre filhos e filhas no âmbito da empresa familiar são claramente visíveis e relata que as filhas geralmente passam menos tempo na empresa e desenvolvem um menor número de habilidades gerenciais, ao mesmo tempo em que não são encorajadas a seguir carreira junto ao negócio da família.…”