Purpose

The knowledge of goals of the successor, who is preparing to take over the business, is extremely important for the succession process and further operation of a family enterprise. The aim of this study is to structure the goals of Polish family enterprises’ successors and to develop a Synthetic Model of the goals of Polish family enterprises' successors with the application of grey clustering evaluation models.

Design/methodology/approach

Research into the specifics of the diagnosis and assessment of the goals set for the successors of the first succession in family businesses in Poland was carried out in the third quarter of 2016 at two stages using two research methods: in-depth group interview and individual interview. The main aim of the first stage was the extraction of subjectively identified goals by family enterprises' successors (based on their succession experience). The statements were open and obtained during two in-depth group interviews (2 FGI) with successors being in the process of succession at its various stages (total, n = 14). The respondents presented their experiences connected with the succession process along with emotions that are associated with it. In one of the interview stages, the respondents were asked to enumerate their individual goals they set for themselves in the context of upcoming changes. Next, the group agreed on the most frequently mentioned goals by creating their verbal interpretation. The obtained list of 20 goals was recorded and discussed, and thanks to the application of the elimination rule in the collective decision-making process, that list was reduced to 10 goals, which was approved by all participating successors.

Findings

The results show the developed Synthetic Model of the goals of family enterprises’ successors. The study singled out four groups of successors: (1) successors who do not work in the family enterprise yet, (2) successors holding lower-level positions, (3) successors holding managerial positions, (4) successors who manage the entire company. As a result of the calculations, the developed Synthetic Model of the goals of family enterprises' successors was positively verified for successors working in higher-level positions and successors managing the entire family enterprise.

Research limitations/implications

In order to use the results of clustering, e.g. for conducting studies on large samples with the use of statistical tools, a reduced number of goals should be taken into account. A thorough study of three goals may bring results similar to the study of the original ten successors of Polish family enterprises in the process of succession. The aim of future research is to develop a mathematical model using optimization functions that enable selection of elements representing individual clusters in such a way that it leads to the extraction of the elements with the highest value in relation to the accepted criterion for assessing their value.

Originality/value

In the future, conducting family business research in accordance with the developed methodology requires a look at the proposed list of successor goals obtained during the Focus Group Interview (FGI) as it could be shortened using the Cluster of Grey Incidence method. Shortening the list of goals has its analytic and practical justifications. The study of the full list of goals in subsequent (and numerous further studies) could lead to errors related to, for example, different interpretation of goals among the investigated successors. Furthermore, the full list of goals would increase costs and extend research time.

中文翻译：

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灰色集群在波兰家族企业后继者目标综合模型发展中的应用

目的

准备接管业务的继任者的目标知识，对于家族企业的继任过程和进一步运作极为重要。本研究旨在构建波兰家族企业后继者的目标，并运用灰色聚类评估模型建立波兰家族企业后继者目标的综合模型。

设计/方法/方法

2016年第三季度，采用两种研究方法，分两个阶段对波兰家族企业中的第一位继承人的继任者设定的目标诊断和评估目标进行了研究，分为两个阶段：深度小组访谈和个人访谈。第一阶段的主要目的是家族企业的继任者（基于其继任经验）提取主观确定的目标。声明是公开的，是在两次深入的小组访谈（两次FGI）中获得的，后继者处于各个阶段的继任过程中（总计，n = 14）。受访者介绍了他们与继任过程相关的经历以及与之相关的情绪。在访谈的一个阶段中，要求受访者列举他们在即将发生的变化中为自己设定的目标。接下来，该小组通过提出口头解释，就最常见的目标达成了一致。记录并讨论了获得的20个目标的清单，并且由于在集体决策过程中应用了淘汰规则，该清单减少到了10个目标，并得到了所有后续继任者的认可。

发现

结果表明，已开发出的家族企业后继者目标综合模型。该研究选择了四组继任者：（1）尚未在家族企业中工作的继任者；（2）担任较低级别职位的继任者；（3）担任管理职位的继任者；（4）管理整个公司的继任者。作为计算的结果，对于在较高职位上任职的继任者和管理整个家族企业的继任者，已成功验证了所开发的家族企业继任者目标综合模型。

研究局限/意义

为了使用聚类的结果，例如，使用统计工具对大型样本进行研究，应考虑减少目标数量。对三个目标的透彻研究可能会得出与继承过程中对波兰家族企业最初的十个继承者的研究相似的结果。未来研究的目的是使用优化函数来开发数学模型，该数学模型能够选择代表单个簇的元素，从而导致提取相对于用于评估其值的公认标准而言具有最高值的元素。

创意/价值

将来，根据发达的方法进行家族企业研究需要查看在焦点小组访谈（FGI）中获得的继任者目标的建议清单，因为可以使用灰色关联度法将其缩短。缩短目标清单有其分析和实践依据。在随后的（和大量的进一步研究中）对目标的完整列表进行研究可能会导致错误，例如与所调查的继任者对目标的不同解释有关。此外，完整的目标清单将增加成本并延长研究时间。