Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Business Administration

Advisor

Ronald D. Black

Abstract

AbstractSome business leaders in family-owned businesses lack leadership succession planning strategies. Family-owned businesses that lack succession planning strategies decrease the likelihood of business sustainability after the transition from founder to the successor. Grounded in the socioemotional wealth theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore succession planning strategies first-generation family-owned business leaders in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area used to transfer leadership and ownership to the second generation. Data collected for this study consisted of semistructured interviews via teleconferences, company website information, press releases, and internal company documents. Yin’s 5 step process was used to analyze the data. Five themes emerged from the data analysis: successor factors, family factors, leader factors, transition factors, and next-generation succession planning factors. A key recommendation is for leaders of family-owned businesses to develop a succession plan that takes into account the non-economic aspects of the family firm in addition to the financial aspects. The implication for positive social change includes equipping leaders of family-owned businesses with strategies that may improve family business sustainability rates from generation to generation leading to growth and development opportunities within the firm and the community where the firm conducts its business.

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