This project mainly proposes a research initiative
to investigate the succession process in family
business, and mainly the factors that may inhibit w
omen from entering their family’s business in a
managerial or decision making capacity. To this aim
we will examine both obstacles and positive
aspects of women's involvement in family firms and
her important/unimportant role in the
continuity of the family firm. Afterwards, we will
compare data from literature review with the
information obtained in our qualitative study in or
der to improve knowledge in this field of
research.
Gender has been one of the inputs traditionally use
d in the succession planning in family-owned
businesses. The result of this gender fact used to
be that women were excluded from the
management of those businesses unless there were no
other family members that could be potential
successors. In those cases, as it was the only way
to keep the business in the family, women
became managers. In the last years, things seem to
be changing and to demonstrate it we carried
out a qualitative research. To this aim we conducte
d sixty in-depth interviews to managers that are
preparing their family business succession or it ha
d already taken place.
We studied the determinant factors to become a succ
essor, the role of mothers in this process, the
advantages and disadvantages of women in the family
business and the interest showed by women
in entering the family business as well as the prob
lems they face to conciliate professional career
with family life and children care.