Wayne Rivers, Co-founder and President of the Family Business Institute was featured in an episode of The Prudent Advisor on Retirement Living Television. The episode, "Who Gets The Business" features a real life example of a father and son Podiatry practice in transition and valuable tips on family business succession planning. Click the play button to view it in its entirety.
Management Succession Planning for Family Businesses
When business owners, their advisors, and business writers talk about family business succession planning, they're almost universally talking about ownership succession planning. In fact, ownership succession planning is one of the key ways businesses define themselves as family companies. KPMG found that 93% of family enterprises perceive "ownership by family" as the most important characteristic in determining whether or not they are a family business.
By comparison, little attention in the literature is paid to management succession planning issues in closely held companies. There are several reasons for this.
Ownership Succession Planning for Family Businesses
More than four out of five family businesses are still controlled by their founders, but there is a coming wave of change in the family business marketplace that brings the need for ownership succession planning to the forefront of priorities. About 40% of family businesses expect the leadership of their companies to change by 2008; well over half of family businesses expect a leadership change by 2013. When the topic of family business succession planning arises, it's usually ownership succession planning issues about which the family or the family's professional advisers are thinking.
Succession Planning 
When business owners, their advisors, and business writers talk about family business succession planning, they're almost universally talking about ownership succession planning. In fact, ownership succession planning is one of the key ways businesses define themselves as family companies. KPMG found that 93% of family enterprises perceive "ownership by family" as the most important characteristic in determining whether or not they are a family business. 
More than four out of five family businesses are still controlled by their founders, but there is a coming wave of change in the family business marketplace that brings the need for ownership succession planning to the forefront of priorities. About 40% of family businesses expect the leadership of their companies to change by 2008; well over half of family businesses expect a leadership change by 2013. When the topic of family business succession planning arises, it's usually ownership succession planning issues about which the family or the family's professional advisers are thinking.