The Buddenbrooks syndrome is evoked by business historians to explain the inability of family firms to survive beyond the third generation. Although this argument highlights a major problem – that of ensuring smooth intergenerational succession – this article’s contention is that a more complex interpretative framework is needed in order to explain the longevity of some family businesses. By drawing on evidence concerning a family firm which survived for more than two centuries, this article highlights three interrelated factors of longevity: the strategic response to internal drivers and environmental changes; the transmission of skills and values to the following generations; and the successful intergenerational transfer of family assets. All these factors were based on a flexible definition of both the ‘family’ and the ‘business’ which ensured the combination of continuity and change that was necessary for the family firm’s long-term survival.
Looking beyond the Buddenbrooks syndrome: the Salvadori Firm of Trento, 1660s-1880s
Lorandini, Cinzia
2015-01-01
Abstract
The Buddenbrooks syndrome is evoked by business historians to explain the inability of family firms to survive beyond the third generation. Although this argument highlights a major problem – that of ensuring smooth intergenerational succession – this article’s contention is that a more complex interpretative framework is needed in order to explain the longevity of some family businesses. By drawing on evidence concerning a family firm which survived for more than two centuries, this article highlights three interrelated factors of longevity: the strategic response to internal drivers and environmental changes; the transmission of skills and values to the following generations; and the successful intergenerational transfer of family assets. All these factors were based on a flexible definition of both the ‘family’ and the ‘business’ which ensured the combination of continuity and change that was necessary for the family firm’s long-term survival.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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