More than 40 percent of German family firms find no successor within their own family. One viable path is external managerial succession while family ownership continues. Yet such a transfer is not a one-off event; it is a recursive process of legitimation.
Policy Brief "Entrepreneurship in Focus" | 2026 External Succession in Family-Owned Mittelstand Manufacturing Firms in Germany
Neusser, C. (2026): Umgang mit externer Nachfolge in familiengeführten mittelständischen Unternehmen in Deutschland, in: FGF-Forschungsnetzwerk Entrepreneurship, Innovation und Mittelstand e.V. und IfM Bonn: Policy Brief "Unternehmertum im Fokus" 3/26, Bonn.