Family business owners plan over the long term: framework of research and preliminary results covering the Czech Republic.

Abstract

A family business is characterized by a combination of ownership, management, and family, in other words, linking the business and family life. Family businesses are the predominant form of business all over the world and have a significant impact on economic growth, employment or social development. The literary research shows that what distinquishes the family business from non-family one are unique characteristics such as long-term planning. The validity of these specifics will be verified by using research questions. The article deals with a family business with a focus on its specifics: long-term planning and generation exchange and presents the preliminary results of 20 family businesses from the Czech Republic. The respondents of the research are the owners of private Czech family businesses. The data presented in this paper are analyzed by using descriptive statistics, namely frequency and percentage and are collected from the beginning of August until the end of September 2019. Based on preliminary research it was found that 85% of the surveyed companies make plans (of which 50 % form strategic plans and 15 % form plan for 3 years). 85% of analyzed companies plan to hand over the business to the next generation.A family business is characterized by a combination of ownership, management, and family, in other words, linking the business and family life. Family businesses are the predominant form of business all over the world and have a significant impact on economic growth, employment or social development. The literary research shows that what distinquishes the family business from non-family one are unique characteristics such as long-term planning. The validity of these specifics will be verified by using research questions. The article deals with a family business with a focus on its specifics: long-term planning and generation exchange and presents the preliminary results of 20 family businesses from the Czech Republic. The respondents of the research are the owners of private Czech family businesses. The data presented in this paper are analyzed by using descriptive statistics, namely frequency and percentage and are collected from the beginning of August until the end of September 2019. Based on preliminary research it was found that 85% of the surveyed companies make plans (of which 50 % form strategic plans and 15 % form plan for 3 years). 85% of analyzed companies plan to hand over the business to the next generation.