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In Switzerland farm succession is predominantly patrilinear and controlled by a patriarchal system of succession. A postal survey on farm succession in Switzerland in 2004 elucidated the gender patterns of conditions of succession: the current share of female farm operators stands at 6%. There are no trends towards change. The number of potential female successors ready to take over the farm in the next generation cited by the present operator is again 6% (Rossier & Wyss, 2006). In Switzerland by law women and men are considered equal in all ambits of life. The Act on Gender Equality came into force in 1996. Since then all federal laws that treated women differently from men have been amended.

Mentoring is an intense relationship between a senior experienced individual who is the mentor and a less experienced individual who is the protégé. Mentors provide counselling, guidance, advice, support and feedback for the protégé's personal and professional development. With the well-being of the family as the central issue in family firms, mentoring is often seen to be akin to a parent–child relationship. In Bangladesh, paternalistic and informal parental mentoring is the norm for grooming children both morally and professionally. Using six caselets of large family firms of Bangladesh, this chapter provides insight into the paternalistic style of mentoring, and also the generational differences in mentoring between the firm's owner and his successor.

This chapter focuses on Norwegian farm families by analysing succession patterns across generations and genders in “beanpole” families, i.e. those with several living generations (Brannen, Moss, & Mooney, 2004). The focus is on transfer of property in the case of farm families and its importance for gender relations. Succession here refers to the transfer of farm management control, which may be seen as a continuous, multi-phase process in farm families which begins when the successor is young with gradual assumption of specific responsibilities within the farm business (Symes, 1990). One aim of the chapter is to connect changes in succession praxis in the case of farm families in Norway with the societal changes of three-four generations over the twentieth century. The dynamics of families and households are regarded as key elements of issues such as farm structure (Bengtson, 2001; Bokemeier, 1997; Hareven, 1996; Willson, Shuey, & Elder, 2003), and farm families offer an interesting case for examining intergenerational relations (Brandth, 2002; Elder, Rudkin, & Conger, 1995; Elder, Robertson, & Rudkin, 1996; Lee & Cassidy, 1981; Melberg, 2003).

Purpose – The main purpose of this chapter is to discuss cultural norms in the process of handing down traditional folk music. In doing so, I focus on learning what successors of the tradition think about the orthodoxy of their music and what they think is the ideal way to pass down cultural heritage. In addition, considering that cultural norms are socially constructed in the moment, it should be also examined what leads people to have such notions.

Design/methodology/approach – To achieve these purposes, I look at practices of handing down traditional folk music in Japan, developing five case studies of various ohayashi. I also analyze yosakoi, which is modernly arranged local folk music that is widely spread across the country in the form of community festivals.

Findings – The successors of traditions tend to consider tracing the roots of their music as an obligation. On the other hand, in the case of music with no exact origin, its successors seek to find their identities by learning lessons from local anonymous ancestors. Meanwhile, there are people who consider its economic value as a raison d’être for traditional music.

Originality/value – What gives originality to this chapter is that I adopt an approach, employing regional and urban sociology methods, of comparing the characteristics of the regions in which local folk music is based. Along with perspectives on macro social changes and the principle of music group formation, I also discuss the transformation of expertise in folk culture associated with the rise of institutional reflexivity.

This chapter expands our understanding of daughters’ inclusion in family business succession, analyzing why and how it can and does take place. Our work reveals that things are much more complex and diverse than research tells us in terms of daughters, their families, and their businesses.

Daughters are not only “in” or “out” of the family business. They can be included in a variety of ways, at different moments, following different paths, in a diversity of contexts. Based on 10 years of qualitative research data on family business succession, we explain and discuss how gender dynamics in the family and the business systems affect succession practices and outcomes, beyond the individual level analysis.

We used six selected and contrasted cases to illustrate the influence that gender, birth order, family inherited culture, business hierarchies and history, interpersonal relationships (parents-heirs-other stakeholders), as well as ownership transfers, governance rules and management procedures have on intergenerational succession, and particularly in daughters’ family business inclusion. From our findings, readers can draw practical recommendations for family business owners, managers and successors.

In many countries (Nigeria inclusive), major components of job creation and economic growth, are driven by small and medium-sized businesses that are mostly family-owned. However, over 50% of such businesses fail after intrafamily leadership transition. This chapter seeks to understand and explain the strategies that owners of medium-sized family-owned businesses explore in ensuring the sustainability of their business after a leadership transition from the founder. The focus is on three business leaders who sustained their family-owned businesses after a leadership transition from their founders. The conceptual framework is based on the transformational leadership theory. Data collection was from artefacts, company documents and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Analysis of data was supported by follow-up questions and member-checking to enhance the trustworthiness and credibility of the interpretations. Four themes that emerged were the founder's desire and support for transition, the preparation of successors or level of preparedness, trust and credibility of successors, and clarity of vision of both the founders and successors. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing leaders of African family-owned businesses with strategies for managing leadership transitions and ensuring the survival of the business after these transitions. Sustainability of family businesses might lead to job retention and creation, as well as enhance wellbeing and incomes of communities, family members and the African economy.

This chapter takes a socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective to explain the adoption of human resource (HR) practices in family-controlled firms. Previous studies on human resource management (HRM) in family firms have focused only on a small range of HR practices and have rarely utilized strong conceptual frameworks. As a result, these studies have overlooked important factors that contribute to the distinctiveness of HRM in these organizations. Based on ample evidence that shows family businesses' preference for non-economically motivated objectives collectively labeled as SEW, we propose that the presence of SEW influences HR practices in family firms.

Consequently, we reexamine existing empirical evidence of the determinants of HRM in family-controlled firms under the SEW approach. We also reinterpret existing theoretical models of family-controlled firms and their implications for HRM under the SEW umbrella. Our final goal is to establish an integrated framework through a set of sound propositions on HRM in family businesses. By integrating the literature, we aim to fill theoretical gaps in our understanding of the determinants of HR practices in the family business context and direct future research in this area.

Educational tourism in agriculture is attracting growing attention. It is expected that educational activities can create a new social role for agriculture. However, farmers need to refine their identity to embark on this emerging activity. On the basis of a questionnaire survey, the present study has statistically clarified how a farmer’s identity determines their attitude toward educational tourism by focusing on mainly family-run Educational Dairy Farms in Japan. The results show that those farmers who have a wider perspective on the activity domain conduct educational tourism more positively than those who do not. The findings also indicate how the next-generation farm successors view the educational activity; that is, whether they consider themselves to be simply conventional milk producers or rather farm resource managers with a wider scope of new social demand that is connected to farmers’ identity. The latter redefinition will be increasingly necessary when farm successors conduct tourism-related activity.

Founders have significant influence over many domains within family businesses, and their impact on companies may be felt even after leadership succession. Founders have therefore received much attention from scholars, policymakers, and entrepreneurship educators. This chapter characterizes the current literature on family business founders by identifying the topics explored and the range of methods and methodologies used in recent years to outline a research agenda for future study of founders of family businesses.

A scoping review was conducted to examine the extent and essence of contemporaneous research activity related to family business founders. Scoping reviews describe current research activity without evaluating individual studies and are effective in summarizing significant concerns and themes, identifying areas of deficiency, and establishing recommendations for future directions in research. This scoping review used elements of a rapid review due to resource restrictions and this chapter discusses efforts to mitigate the limitations introduced as a result.

After summarizing the current academic conversation about family business founders, opportunities for future research topics and methodological approaches to the study of founders of family businesses are introduced.

The chapter deals with the interface between the law of succession and corporate law and explains the completely different objects of these two fields of law. Succession law tries to shift and contribute assets to the successors, whereas corporate law focuses on the well-being of the company. However, in a family business, it is necessary to find legal, social, and psychological techniques to combine these two areas and to establish strong and binding relations. This is the function of shareholder agreements and family constitutions.