Institute of Sociology
of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Rozhdestvenskaya Elena.“Chemical reaction”: choosing a successor in a mosaic family, in: Family Business Case Studies Across the World.Succession and Governance in a Disruptive Era. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. P. 129-137.



Rozhdestvenskaya Elena.“Chemical reaction”: choosing a successor in a mosaic family, in: Family Business Case Studies Across the World.Succession and Governance in a Disruptive Era. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. P. 129-137.
ISBN 978-1-80088-424-3
DOI 10.4337/9781800884250

Posted on site: 26.01.24

 


Abstract

The case examines succession challenges in a typical small and medium-sized family business based on technological production. The founder and his third wife were united by the company, but at the same time this brought two complex families with histories of divorce together. The case demonstrates the transition of a family enterprise, which widely involved the kinship network in the management process and attempted to select a single competent successor among the clan. It shows how immature attempts to engage clan members in the business could be costly, leading to relationship issues such as divorce, relationship cut-off, and even ruptures of family ties. Through analysis of this case, learners should be able to: • Appreciate the complexity of a family business when managed and owned by a clan composed of families of different marriages and with histories of multiple divorces. • Understand the pros and cons of a highly heterogeneous family-in-business. • Recognize the importance of the founder’s ideology in the successor choice and how a technically based business may require specialized education and long-term investments in the next generation. • Develop a set of criteria for successor choice and evaluate the appropriateness of the successors apparent based on this rubric.

Content (in russ)


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