Succession
Succession is not a date but a transition of leadership, ownership and identity. We guide business families from the first clarification to an effective handover.
Our view
Many successions do not fail for lack of a candidate, but because the company and its owners are not yet ready. Decisions depend on one person, roles are unclear, the family does not agree on the goal.
So we start with what should be preserved and what needs to change. Only then do we look for the right path: within the family, with external leadership, through an MBO or MBI, or through a sale.
Clarify the goals of the shareholders and turn them into a sound ownership strategy.
„What do we as owners want to achieve with the company in the coming years?“
Check whether the company can act without its current owner and close the gaps.
„Will the business keep running without me as owner?“
Design roles, handover plan and governance for the next generation.
„How do we hand over fairly to the next generation without straining the family?“
Find, onboard and mandate external managing directors.
„How do we find a managing director we can entrust the company to?“
Structure, value and finance management buy-outs and buy-ins.
„Can the management team take over the company and carry the financing?“
Find the right buyer and run the process confidentially, with access through CapitalMatch.
„Who is the right buyer, and how do we keep the sale confidential until closing?“
Combine purchase price, funding programmes and lenders into a viable structure.
„How can the purchase price be financed without overburdening the company?“
Accompany the first months after the handover until the new order holds.
„How do we manage the transition without unsettling staff, customers and banks?“
Our approach
Capture the goals of owner, family and shareholders and assess the company's readiness for handover.
Evaluate the options: family, external leadership, MBO or MBI, sale. And agree on an ownership strategy.
Find and onboard the successor, structure contracts and financing, communicate the handover.
Accompany the first months, establish governance and make sure the new order holds.
Research foundation
Our work on external succession draws on the doctoral thesis of Dr. Christian Neusser at Henley Business School, University of Reading: 102 interviews across 42 family-owned mid-sized manufacturers, eight focus case studies and 34 validation cases. It produced the MSTM framework with four dimensions that operate simultaneously in every stage.
The tools and routines of the handover: onboarding plan, mentoring, joint planning sessions, feedback loops and performance measures. They take uncertainty out of the transition.
The governance behind it: decision rights, reporting lines, advisory or supervisory board, shareholder agreements. Structure is what makes a mandate redeemable in the first place.
The relational capital between new leadership, family and workforce. It does not grow linearly but at individual moments that reveal how someone decides.
The authority actually granted. It is more than the employment contract: it is spoken out loud, symbolically confirmed, and can be quietly withdrawn again.
Mandate takes shape
Health, a change of strategic direction, or the realisation that no one in the family wants to or can take over. The trigger turns into a decision for external leadership.
Where it breaksThe decision is postponed until time pressure dictates the choice. Framing succession as an emergency shapes everything that follows.
Signs it is workingSuccession is told as the chance for the next stage of development, not as the answer to a problem.
Structure
Alongside the candidate search, governance is rebuilt: decision rights, advisory board, reporting lines and shareholder agreement. The two belong together.
Where it breaksSelection on chemistry and value fit alone, with no one putting mandate and decision rights in writing. The friction then arrives after the appointment.
Signs it is workingBefore day one it is clear who decides what, how success is measured and who mediates in case of conflict.
Mechanisms and trust
The most critical phase. Formally, leadership has been transferred; in practice it is still being negotiated. Long-serving staff, the predecessor and individual shareholders test the new order.
Where it breaksThe predecessor remains informally present, family members stay operationally active. The new managing director is formally empowered and factually constrained.
Signs it is workingEarly visible decisions, presence on the shop floor and in sales, and aligned communication that makes the owners' backing evident.
Trust and mandate
Over months it becomes clear whether the new leadership is not just in office but in role. Legitimacy is not conferred, it is earned.
Where it breaksProfessionalising too quickly reads as an attack on the culture that grew here. Resistance is then rarely open; it shows up as delay.
Signs it is workingChange is understood as a continuation of the life's work, not a break with it. First wins are visible and credited to the new leadership.
All four dimensions
The outcome is either strategic renewal, a negotiated middle ground with bounded autonomy, or a change of leadership. It is not a question of professional competence.
Where it breaksThe predecessor keeps co-governing and feedback structures are missing. Trust then erodes gradually, even when the numbers are good.
Signs it is workingFull operational autonomy with the family structurally involved through the board. Renewal is seen as the logical next step of the founding idea.
Neusser, C. (2026): Navigating External Succession in German-Speaking Family-Owned Manufacturing SMEs. Doctoral Thesis, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
„Succession rarely fails because of the competence of those involved.“
Dr. Christian Neusser, Managing Director, Phalanx GmbH
Five to ten years before the planned handover. The earlier readiness and ownership goals are clear, the more options remain open.
Then external succession, an MBO, an MBI or a sale are realistic paths. We show you which one fits your goals and your company.
Completely. Names and figures leave our firm only with your explicit consent.
An initial conversation is free of obligation and confidential. We listen, put things in context and tell you openly whether and how we can help.
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