FAMILY BUSINESS SUCCESSION: EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS APPROACH

Juha Kansikas () and Tuomas Kuhmonen ()
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Juha Kansikas: School of Business and Economics, P. O. Box 35 (MaE), 40014 Jyvaskyla University, Finland
Tuomas Kuhmonen: School of Business and Economics, P. O. Box 35 (MaE), 40014 Jyvaskyla University, Finland

Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), 2008, vol. 16, issue 03, 279-298

Abstract: This study analyses family business continuity from founder generation to the 2nd generation in terms of succession in the context of evolutionary economics. Two literature bases; family business succession and evolutionary thinking in organisational and economic change, are reviewed and combined to provide insights to understand the nature of family business succession. Operation of the key evolutionary forces — variation, selection, retention and struggle — in family business succession are illustrated. Regarding variation, there is a concern for understanding the importance of having enough diversity within the family firm, since this diversity of routines and competences comprises the pool of variation from which to select when the environment changes. With regards to selection, there is a concern for understanding the risk of selection bias easily rooted in the family firm culture: are some variations favoured in the selection of operating, investment and search routines because of family relations, emotions and values, including decisions on who will succeed and who will own the firm in the future. Elaboration and investigation of these concepts may help to identify special characteristics of the "family firm species" that are either beneficial or risky for the survival in the evolutionary struggle.

Keywords: Family business; succession; evolutionary economics; routines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1142/S0218495808000156

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