The transfer of family businesses in Northern Germany and Austria

Thomas Glauben, Hendrik Tietje and Stefan Vogel

No 405, FE Working Papers from Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Food Economics and Consumption Studies

Abstract: The transfer of family businesses from one generation to the next can be considered as an event with far-reaching effects for the business. Investments and decisions about restructuring the business are closely tied to succession considerations. This paper analyzes successions plans in the primary sector using a survey conducted in 2003 of 348 farmers in Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany) and 278 farmers in Austria. Three samples were obtained: full time farmers in Schleswig-Holstein, full time farmers in Austria and part time farmers in Austria. The structure of the farm sector in both countries differs in several ways: Farmers in Schleswig-Holstein operate on larger scales, are more market oriented and use more intensive production technologies than their Austrian counterparts. In addition, Austrian farmers have distinct traditional attitudes in farming and are likely located in disadvantaged areas on average. The analysis focuses on differences in succession plans and farm family characteristics in the three samples. This encompasses the fact that farms in Schleswig-Holstein have proportionally higher rates of identified successors and farm adjustment plans than in Austria. Results also show that there are not only significant differences in farm succession patterns, but also in value systems.

Date: 2004
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/38618/1/48772917X.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:caufew:0405

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FE Working Papers from Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Food Economics and Consumption Studies Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().