Family businesses face the unique succession issue of choosing the next generation to lead, or turning over a firm to professional managers, or selling when a founder is ready.
"I had to stop watching because it felt a little too real," says Ionnie McNeill, who recently transitioned out of a management role with MCO Construction, the company founded by her mother and which she had at one time been convinced she would eventually lead. In mainland China, there are hundreds of thousands of private firms without a roadmap for succession, and with China's population policies of the past half-century, often a lack of many children to even consider as successors.Succession planning needs to start early
Nixon Medical mapped out how the process would work, but did not make the decision on who would be chosen leader until it needed to be made in late 2006 before their father transitioned away from day-to-day leadership in 2007.