The Succession and Business Transformation of Taiwanese SMEs to Reactivate the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Taiwanese SMEs (small and medium enterprises) have been the source of creativity and the key driving force of economic growth early on in the 1960s, key partners in supply chain and industry clusters later, and recently focal point of local economy, social value, and dreams for young generation. However, based on the “White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises in Taiwan,” in recent five years, share of SMEs in existence over 20 years was in the range of 21% to 23%, far below the average 35% of large enterprises. This shows the business succession / transition remains a major challenge to SMEs as going concerns. Further, compared to large enterprises, SMEs in existence over 20 years suffered significant sales decline and “the crisis of the elderly age” as their firstgeneration entrepreneurs got into old age and lost their vitality and creativity. It has become an important issue for sustainable development of SMEs to reactivate the entrepreneurial spirit, combined with sound “second-generation succession” and business transformation strategy. In this paper, we use the two key factors of succession and business transformation to analyze how the Taiwanese SMEs to reactivate the entrepreneurial Spirit. The research results provide some policy implications for Succession and transformation of Taiwanese SMEs. These points are suggested as: (1) promote market-oriented business management courses in colleges and universities to cultivate curiosity and creative thinking of potential new generation of successors;(2) form professional succession team in response to new business opportunities; (3) integrate existing knowledge exchange platforms for succession to provide customized mechanisms of knowledge sharing and exchange services required for different types of succession; (4) provide succession planning adviser or match professional managers to succession needs for SMEs\u27 sustainable development as going concerns; (5) encourage new generation successors of SMEs to obtain innovation awards that could reactivate the entrepreneurial spirit; (6) grasp the opportunity of succession and transformation to guide SMEs towards institutionalized management; (7) establish SME succession and transformation follow-up service mechanism linking research institutions, universities and private sector professional consulting companies to meet long term counseling needs for SME succession and transformation; (8) strengthen cross-industry cooperation mechanism for SMEs’ sustainable development in order to guide the SME succession and transformation toward the direction of “professionalism,” “branding,” and “internationalization.

The Relationship between Successor, Planning Characteristics, and the Transfer Process on Post-Transfer Profitability in SMEs

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between successor characteristics, transfer planning characteristics and post-transfer profitability within Dutch SMEs. On the one hand, based on the resource dependency view, it is assumed that successors with more knowledge and experience, derived from work experience from outside the target firm, will be able to extract higher rents from the firm than those with less (diverse) work experience. On the other hand, based on the knowledge management literature, and in particular, concepts such as tacit knowledge, this research makes the contrasting prediction that post-transfer profitability is likely to be higher in firms where the successor is an insider and is related to the predecessor. Moreover, this paper proposes, based on the theory of planned behaviour, that written plan and strategic intent have a positive association with post-transfer profitability. The study is based on quantitative analysis of a random sample of Dutch SMEs. Initial results from the current study suggest that determinants of post-transfer profitability may be quite different in the family-to-family ownership vs. nonfamily ownership transfer conditions (i.e. whether or not the successor is related to the predecessor). Significant interaction effect is found such that the effect of strategic planning, in particular, varies depending on the nature of the transfer relationship (family to family, vs family to non-family). Other results offer mixed support for the proposed theories.

Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands; Business transfer

This report is the eighth edition of the series 'Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands'. As demonstrated by the name of the series, the reports focus on entrepreneurship but each year a different aspect of entrepreneurship is studied. This eight report deals with business transfer. In the coming years many entrepreneurs in the Netherlands as well as in Europe will retire and cease trading. This will create a large number of enterprises that will be for sale. However at this stage the market for buying and selling such businesses, at least in the Netherlands, is not very well developed and there is a risk that successful enterprises will be closed unnecessarily. In the framework of their entrepreneurship policy, governments as well as the European Commission have developed actions to stimulate a smooth acquisition of these enterprises. In this report, the business transfer case in the Netherlands and the policy developed by the Dutch Government are described.

Selling, Passing on or Closing? Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions on Exit Modes

Exit is an important part of the entrepreneurial lifecycle. In contrast to numerous previous studies on entry, however, little attention has been paid to entrepreneurial exit, and much less on exit modes thus far. Using a recent original survey data on small business owners in New Zealand, where a large majority of them prefer selling their firms when they exit, we empirically investigate the determinants of intended entrepreneurial exit modes: selling out, succession, or closure. Estimation results of multinomial logit analysis suggest that the intention to sell the business is significantly affected by the size and performance of the firm, the involvement of family and how the owner entered the business. Moreover, we find that the intention to liquidate the business is significantly affected by the size and performance of the firm and partly by family involvement in the business.entrepreneurial exit, liquidation, small and medium enterprise (SME), New Zealand

What do we know about succession in family businesses? Mapping current knowledge and unexplored territory

We review studies on succession in family businesses that have been done since Handler’s (1994) seminal literature review on the topic in an effort to synthesize existing research and outline paths for future studies. We offer three contributions. First, we select succession studies that adhere to established methodological standards. Second, we review these studies based on the perspective that succession is a process comprising five stages across three levels of analysis. Finally, we outline current gaps in our knowledge and ask researchers to adopt a more holistic approach when studying succession

The role of the ERENET Network in harmonizing university enterpreneurial education syllabuses in CEE

The paper presents the historical backround of the establishment of the Entrepreneurship research and Development network among the Central and Eastern European Universities - ERENET. It presents the basic declaration, its legal status, iam and main fields of activities. Special emphasis is given to strenghten the Central European Set of Values. It descrices the main projects carried our by ERENET and summariyes the major events. Last it referrs to the basic international relations of the organization.

Research on the Competitiveness Factors of Small and Medium Enterprises

An Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) is able to cope with the global challenge if it realizes reliable, balanced and high-standard operation in its business. There are some management and organizational methods increasing the competitiveness of SME. Controlling as a management tool and management function as well as a factor affecting competitiveness has come more into focus. Outsourcing of activities not belonging to the main profile of the enterprise seems natural for most SME-s. Family as the driving force of the business can bear bigger loads than SME of similar sizes but not organized around a family.competitiveness factors, management methods, family business speciality.

Medical family businesses in Poland : model and managerial challanges

W Polsce występuje deficyt danych o cechach przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych świadczących usługi medyczne. Sektor medyczny w Polsce stoi w obliczu szybkiego rozwoju firm rodzinnych i jest zróżnicowany, ponieważ obejmuje różne wielkości podmiotów gospodarczych, które specjalizują się w wielu możliwych aspektach branży medycznej. Artykuł dotyczy cech przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych świadczących usługi medyczne oraz zakresu, w jakim przypominają one firmy rodzinne i do których wywodzą się z działalności usług medycznych. Artykuł ma charakter teoretyczny i jego celem jest zaprezentowanie modelu funkcjonowania rodzinnych firm medycznych, biorąc pod uwagę wpływ rodzaju działalności i organizacji rodzinnej. Pierwsza część artykułu koncentruje się na charakterystyce firm rodzinnych, stosunkowo mało jest reprezentatywnych badań analizujących udział przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych w polskiej gospodarce i opisujących ich charakter. Druga część artykułu to problem etosu zawodów medycznych w odniesieniu do logiki biznesowej i ekonomicznej organizacji. W trzeciej części artykułu znajduje się propozycja modelu łączącego oba aspekty funkcjonowania tego typu podmiotów gospodarczych.There is a deficit of data in Poland about characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services. The medical sector in Poland faces a rapid development of family businesses and is diverse because it encompasses various size business entities that specialize in many possible aspects of the medical business. The article is about the characteristics of family enterprises providing medical services and extent to which they resemble family businesses, and to which they are derived from medical service activities. The article is of theoretical nature and its aim is to propose the model for the functioning of family-owned medical businesses, taking into account the impact of the type of activity and the family organization. The first part of the article is focuses on characteristics of family businesses, there is relatively little representative research analyzing the share of family enterprises in the Polish economy and describing their character. The second part of the article is the problem of ethos of medical professions in relation to business and economic logics of an organization. In the third of the article part there is a proposal for a model combining both aspects of the functioning of this type of economic entities

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT – A MOTIVATIONAL FACTOR FOR SMES

This article aims to analyze the human resources assessment policy in SMEs. Based on the fact that the assessment policy of the human resources has as important premises internal promotion and career management, as well as detecting the dysfunctionalities, motivation inadequacies and dissatisfactions. Finally, we concluded that the development of individual performance model evaluation in the SMEs can be a motivational factor with strong influences on economic performance. This article was financed by CNCSIS – UE FISCSU, IDEI contract, no. 826/19.01.2009performance, model of individual performance, individual knowledge, skill, motivation