| dc.description.abstract | Family businesses, widespread in the world, play an irreplaceable role in economic development. They are mostly small to medium-sized enterprises and therefore have little, if any, influence on government policies which deeply impact their business operations. The founders of the businesses all desire for enterprise perpetual development but according to a research conducted by PwC in July of 2019, out of 305 family enterprises only 9% of them are still owned by the descendants of the original founders in the third or fourth generation.
The majority of the founders of the businesses are in their 50’s and 60’s. Not only are they facing succession issue, but they also struggle to cope with ever-changing environment. The technology advancement of Internet, big data analysis, AI etc. has rendered their knowledge and experiences irrelevant, further marking the importance and urgency of succession. With that in mind, I interviewed five owners of manufactories in my business, aiming to depict a clear picture of how they start and execute the transfer plan of business and what difficulties they have experienced and whether or not they are successful. Based on Five-Dimention-Model, I conducted interview, provided references, aggregated media reports, in an attempt to uncover key factors that affect the succession of small to medium-sized family enterprises. In the industry I do businesses, there are many who are confronting the same issue and I hope this thesis would be of some help to them. | en_US |