Succession in the Family Business: Need to Transfer the ‘Socio-Emotional Wealth’ (SEW)

Rather often we have to confront with the pessimistic views on the future of the family business. Contrary to these prognosis, the FB is not only present but also improving its position in the global economy and playing a key role in the European economy too. They represent 60 % of employment and more than 60 million jobs in the private sector. Among many internal challenges of FB in the five years’ time, the importance of the ‘company succession’ is increasing together with the renewing technology and ‘attracting the right sills/ talents’ (Global Family Survey, 2015). This article is focusing on the transfer of socio-economic wealth (SEW) as a key intangible asset within the intergenerational changes in the FB. The paper outlines the various concepts (narrow vs. broad) of the SEW and special attention is paid to the risk prone [taken] and risk adverse entrepreneurial attitudes. In this relation, the authors made distinction between the ‘opportunity’ and ‘necessity entrepreneurs’. Using empirical experiences based on multi-site company case studies in the three INSIST project countries, the various sub-sections are focusing on the transfer of the following key components of the SEW to the next generation: trust-based social-system, generic human values (i.e. openness, mutual respect, correctness, reliability, responsibility etc.) and ‘practice based – embedded collective knowledge’. Key lesson of this analysis is the following: transferring physical assets in the succession process seems to us less important than the transfer of the intangible one embedded in the company’s culture community. Further systematic national and international investigations – combining quantitative and qualitative research tools – are necessary to acquire more accurate picture on the impacts of transferring both intangible and tangible assets in the succession process in the FB.

Metropolitan Tourism Experience Development. Selected studies from the Tourism Network Workshop of the Regional Studies Association, held in Budapest, Hungary, 2015

On January 28-30, 2015 Corvinus University of Budapest hosted the latest workshop of the Regional Studies Association’s Tourism Research Network. The event had been held previously in Izmir, Aalborg, Warsaw, Östersund, Antalya, Leeds and Vila-seca Catalonia. The aim of the RSA research network is to examine tourism diversity from the perspective of regional development in order to identify current challenges and opportunities in a systematic manner, and hence provide the basis for a more well-informed integration of tourism in regional development strategies and move beyond political short-termism and buzzword fascination. In the frame of the network a series of workshops have been organised from various topics of destination management till rural tourism.

Reluctant Donors? The Europeanization of International Development Policies in the New Members

The EU played an instrumental role re-starting the international development policies in Central and Eastern European member states, but questions remain about how far this policy area has been Europeanized since accession. Focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the paper investigates why the new donors have been reluctant to adopt the EU’s development acquis more fully. The paper traces the process of the EU’s development policy rulemaking and subsequent national rule implementation to understand the socialization opportunities these processes offer. The conclusions reveal thrre reasons why socialization has been weak: (1) perceptions among the new member states on the development acquis’ procedural legitimacy; (2) low domestic resonance with the development acquis; and (3) inconsistencies in the activities of norm entrepreneurs. The paper contributes to our understanding of development policy in the EU, in particular how decision making takes place within the Council and its Working Groups post enlargement.

Running in the Family – Paternalism and Familiness in the Development of Family Businesses

The study focuses on two features of family businesses (FBs), namely familiness and paternalism. These two concepts are inseparable in two ways: inseparable from family businesses and also from each other. Family businesses differ from one another in the degree of family involvement, leadership and management in the business. Paternalism as a leadership attitude is naturally present in FBs, especially in the founding stage of development. This feature provides the solid bases for establishing a strong and proud culture built around the personality and success of the founder. This characteristic however can become a major hindering factor upon succession. Through a review of the literature and the INSIST studies for Central Europe this study aims to identify the supportive and limiting factors of both phenomena and examine the case studies of the INSIST research project for signs of the existence of these supportive and limiting factors. It is found that the degree of familiness in these firms is a sliding scale and a lack of familiness is not a precursor for failure. Paternalism is found to be broken down into authoritarian, benevolent, moral and enlightened. After discovering studies claiming that paternalism is a stage in the process of leadership style changing from participative to autocratic (or vice versa) and that Central Europe and the current era of instability and uncertainty lead to employees preferring a more autocratic or paternalistic style, our findings suggest that there are more driving than restraining forces for family firms adopting a paternalistic style. Furthermore many cases appear to be on the path from an authoritative towards a more enlightened paternalistic leadership style either out of choice in the search to shake off the drawbacks of other types of paternalism or as part of a natural evolution of this particular leadership style within the context of this study.