‘Wise succession key to survival of family firms’

SEVEN out of 10 businesses don’t survive past the third generation of family ownership and many fail because they do not get the succession issue right.

Speaking at the Retail Jewellers of Ireland (RJI) annual conference, Alan Crosbie, chairman of Thomas Crosbie Holdings (parent company of the Irish Examiner) and adjunct professor at the John C Kelleher Family Business Centre at UCC, said few family companies managed to make the leap from one generation to another an easy task.

“Sensible, orderly succession happens in a tiny percentage of family businesses.