Succession in Family Businesses | Training Model for Sustainable Succession Process in Family Businesses Erasmus Project

Project Title

Succession in Family Businesses | Training Model for Sustainable Succession Process in Family Businesses

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship)

Project Summary

Family businesses play a crucial role in sustainable economic development, job creation, regional support and competitiveness of the European countries. Unlike big international companies and corporate businesses, family firms have the valuable ability to overcome times of recession and economic stagnation which makes them a stable backbone of the economy. Moreover, their base is rooted in the country which assures keeping the economic profit and taxes inside a state. The goal of having healthy and prosperous small and medium-sized family businesses is thus favourable for all (not only) European states.

However, family businesses face several specific obstacles which make it more challenging for them to survive in a long-term perspective. For instance, they face the challenge of transferring the company to the next generation. To be able to make this happen successfully they need to prepare a complex step-by-step plan. The EESC counts that 450 000 European family enterprises yearly face this challenge and about 150 000 of them shut down as a result of a failed transferring process. In other words, yearly about 600 000 jobs cease to exist because of the unsuccessful succession process.

The SUFABU project’s main objectives are to help family entrepreneurs to manage the succession process successfully and to raise awareness about the necessity of implementing family businesses into state legislation. The consortium consists of partners from the Czech Republic, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium and Norway. Our goal is to create an innovative digital training system which would provide family entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills that will assist them in planning and coping with the intergenerational exchange and which would introduce the issue to a broader public.

The main output of the proposed project is a complex and exhaustive learning platform based on different and complementary learning tools. During the project implementation, we will collect at least 36 case studies from all partner countries, realize desk research and write national reports, develop at least 10 micro-learning videos and in cooperation with several experts in the field prepare textual presentations. Thanks to the training platform, family businessmen will learn how to plan the process ahead, how is the process handled in different countries, different contexts and different business backgrounds, what are the possible obstacles which could occur during the process and much more.
The primary target group of the project are family entrepreneurs and businessmen of any generations, both predecessors and successors. The secondary target group consists of public representatives, policymakers, public bodies, business associations and a broader public. The SUFABU project also aims to raise awareness about the issues connected to family businesses and thus prepare the basis for public debate about anchoring family businesses in states legislative and necessity of supporting and educating programs for family entrepreneurs. We will reach the target groups via countless dissemination activities and, moreover, we will organize 5 dissemination conferences in each partner country and one Final Dissemination Conference with expected number of at least 180 participants / stakeholders in total.

The main reason for implementing this project transnationally is because it could help achieve the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy prepared by the European Commission to improve productivity, strengthen competitiveness and support a sustainable economy. Carrying out the project transnationally has a wide range of benefits for all participants and target groups as it contributes to the exchange of good practices among family entrepreneurs and experts in the field in different countries. But above all, it could help real people with their businesses.

The results of SUFABU project are expected to be actively used after project ends thanks to our cooperation with countless of family business associations, action groups and educational institutions who are interested in using the outputs for their members, followers and students.

Project Website

http://www.sufabu.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 289409,64 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASOCIACE MALYCH A STREDNICH PODNIKU A ZIVNOSTNIKU CR & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• EUROPEAN FAMILY BUSINESSES AEIE
• DUNDEE AND ANGUS COLLEGE
• INSTITUT INPRO, a.s.
• CEDIT- CENTRO DIFFUSIONE IMPRENDITORIALE DELLA TOSCANA SCARL
• On Projects Advising SL
• Family Business Norway