The presence of women in family SMEs' succession process: a conceptual framework guided by gender perspective
Journal of Family Business Management
ISSN: 2043-6238
Article publication date: 6 June 2023
Issue publication date: 24 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze how the presence of women is seen in family small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) succession process from the successors' perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
To do so, the multiple case study method (qualitative approach) was used: five Brazilian SMEs and three Portuguese SMEs, and the data-collecting techniques were the online interview and documentary analysis. Data analysis was through content analysis using NVivo software.
Findings
The empirical evidence obtained led to the conclusion that the natural succession process is predominant in the family SMEs studied here. Although succession planning is present in some firms, these plans are informal and not rigid as regards deadlines. Nor do they present stages and tasks that could be considered as a planned succession.
Practical implications
The study shows that successors do not see gender as a relevant criterion for the choice of successor. It is concluded that women's participation in family SME succession, even to a lesser extent, is still marked by gender inequality. So, this study provides directions to policymakers and researchers to focus on developmental programmes for the presence of women in family SMEs' succession process.
Originality/value
Although some successors consider that these firms' performance may be different due to gender characteristics, others emphasize that management is the same. Therefore, this study provides the futuristic direction to policymakers, researchers and educators for focusing on the enhancement of women entrepreneurs which plays a crucial role in the family SMEs' succession process. Therefore, a conceptual framework is proposed that explains the articulation of different categories to understand the gender perspective in family firms' succession.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Gender, Entrepreneurship, and Family Business”, guest edited by Sucheta Agarwal, Veland Ramadani, Vivek Agrawal and Jitendra Kumar Dixit.
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from National Funds of the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project « UIDB/04007/2020».
Citation
Franco, M., Nagilla, M. and Rodrigues, M. (2023), "The presence of women in family SMEs' succession process: a conceptual framework guided by gender perspective", Journal of Family Business Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 579-606. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-01-2022-0008
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited