Purpose

Despite much progress in the field of family business research, there is still no unequivocal quantitative evidence on how many family businesses are generally transferred within the family and how many are sold to nonfamily members. Accordingly, the purpose of our paper is to overcome this data problem and to try to get a better estimate of these rates.

Design/methodology/approach

To determine a better estimate of intrafamily successions in Germany, we conducted a meta-analysis of 33 samples from 27 studies covering 75,522 firms facing or having already faced a business transfer.

Findings

Our results indicate that 62% of these family firms are (planned to be) transferred to family members. This type of industry strongly determines the mode of succession. However, methodological issues like study quality and sample design also influence estimated succession rates.

Practical implications

Policymakers need robust statistics so they can base their actions and economic policies on reliable information. However, in the absence of official statistics – as in the case of family firms handing over their company within or outside the family – information is difficult to generate. Our findings provide a generalizable estimate of prevalence rates, providing German policymakers, and those in other countries when applying these methods, with useful information.

Originality/value

This paper suggests that a theory of family firm succession needs to consider more deeply the context in which succession decisions occur. By exploring variables affecting succession rates such as firm size and industry but also methodological issues like sample design and study quality, our analysis also provides a better understanding of central determinants of successions within and outside the family.

中文翻译：

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家族企业的内部和外部继承：荟萃分析

目的

尽管家族企业研究领域取得了很大进展，但仍然没有明确的定量证据表明有多少家族企业通常在家族内部转移，有多少家族企业出售给非家族成员。因此，我们论文的目的是克服这个数据问题，并试图更好地估计这些比率。

设计/方法/方法

为了更好地估计德国的家族继承，我们对来自 27 项研究的 33 个样本进行了荟萃分析，涵盖了 75,522 家面临或已经面临业务转移的公司。

发现

我们的研究结果表明，这些家族企业中有 62% （计划）转让给家族成员。这种产业类型强烈地决定了接班人的模式。然而，研究质量和样本设计等方法问题也会影响估计的继任率。

实际影响

政策制定者需要可靠的统计数据，以便他们可以根据可靠的信息采取行动和制定经济政策。然而，在没有官方统计数据的情况下——例如家族企业在家族内部或外部移交其公司的情况——信息很难生成。我们的研究结果提供了对流行率的普遍估计，为德国政策制定者和其他国家的政策制定者在应用这些方法时提供了有用的信息。

原创性/价值

本文建议，家族企业继承理论需要更深入地考虑继承决策发生的背景。通过探索影响继任率的变量，如公司规模和行业，以及样本设计和研究质量等方法问题，我们的分析还提供了对家族内外继任的核心决定因素的更好理解。