Continuity in Indigenous Family Businesses: A Study of Succession in Mizo Family Businesses

Abstract

In the context of management, succession is the process of transfer of leadership from the incumbent leader to a suitable successor. While management and planning of succession is a crucial for all types of businesses it is particularly so for family business. Worldwide only 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation, while fewer than 14% make it beyond the third generation. Major contribution to this high attrition rate of can be attributed to a failure to manage and plan the succession process. This is to an extent due to the fact that succession process is more complex in a family business which is both an economic and as well as a socio-cultural entity. The way a family business addresses the issue of succession is determined to a very large extent by the cultural milieu it is a part of. This paper studies succession patterns among family businesses of the Mizo tribe of northeast India. It seeks to identify the cultural factors that differentiate Mizo succession patterns as well as established succession practices among current Mizo family businesses.