Analysis of the Critical Aspects of the Generational Turnover in Family Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Family businesses, which aim at surviving today, have to deal with a precise modality: To ensure their continuity,entrepreneurs have to ensure the transfer of leadership from one generation to another inside of them. We dobelieve that this matter is worth being analyzed, since the succession, from one generation to another, can beconsidered as a crucial variable in maintaining family small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over time.Therefore, after investigating the main features, problems, and factors leading to the succession processes, in thesecond part of this article, an empirical analysis will be carried out, by comparing several European countries on thebasis of data from the European Commission. This article contributes to enriching, from a theoretical point of view,the conceptual framework used for investigating the dynamics in the continuity of SMEs. Moreover, empirically,it contributes to the increasing literature on family businesses by comparing several European countries in order tounderstand what originates the longevity of family SMEs.