Impact of successors' social skills in family firms

Beyond entrepreneurial failure: Framing failure in the context of family business succession

AbstractEntrepreneurial failure in the business creation context has received increasing attention over the past 2 decades. However, family business succession failure remains largely unexplored. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to understand the meaning of failure during family succession by proposing a typology of failure adapted to this context. A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted over six years with seven Tunisian family businesses, involving 54 interviews, mainly with their incumbent and successor. The main results highlight diverse perceptions of failure among successors, incumbents and other stakeholders. The findings also demonstrate that the family dimension must be considered to better understand business succession failure.

Yezza, H.; Chabaud, D. · Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration

Dynamique des conflits, contexte et structures familiales dans la succession : une étude exploratoire sur des PME tunisiennes

This research aims to understand the dynamics of conflicts in a process of family succession, by introducing in the analysis the role played by the family structures and their context. A longitudinal qualitative study over four years is conducted with five Tunisian family businesses. The results first show the crucial role of the family structure, in particular the paradoxical place of the father, sometimes a source of authority and stability, sometimes at the heart of the conflict with the successors given his inability to let go. The socio-cultural context and religion also play an important role in the dynamics of conflict.

YEZZA, H.; CHABAUD, D.; BARRÉDY, C. · Management international

Social skills in family business succession: going beyond economic-centred goals

Hedi Yezza · International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business