Emotions are the biggest obstacles to a successful generational change

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 12. 05. 10:59

Generational change is already taking place in more than half of domestic family companies. The biggest challenge during the process is that it is difficult for the senior manager to detach emotionally from the company, which is made even more difficult by the fact that the succession is based on intuition rather than a predetermined written plan – this was revealed in the K&H survey of family companies.

Generational change is a current topic in domestic companies. This is shown by the survey conducted by K&H among family companies, according to which this process is already taking place in 55 percent of companies. There is no shortage of successors either, as 40 percent of companies have two potential next-generation leaders working in the company, who can take over the baton in the future.

“Nearly half of K&H’s portfolio is made up of family companies. According to our experience, one of the biggest challenges for family companies, in addition to planning a long-term strategy, is how the senior manager can hand over the company to the next generation in the most efficient way possible. According to the most recent survey conducted at our club for family companies, the biggest obstacle to a successful succession is that the current manager has difficulty emotionally separating from the company he has built up to that point, and is not open to handing it over completely.

– said Ákos Ékes, head of the K&H family companies center.