Challenges for succession in family farms and small family firms in rural areas (202138)

In rural areas with nature-based resources and few other work opportunities successful successions can be seen as sustainable value creation and industry policy. The project will examine the dynamics and challenges for family farm and family firm successi on. The study will provide novel insights into the characteristics, and processes of succession in farms and small family firms. We use an interdisciplinary approach where we combine case studies in different regions and a national survey. Our approach em phasises the importance of a holistic perspective in order to understand the interaction of factors related to the firm/farm, family/household/gender, and locality/place in succession processes. This implies placing and understanding the succession proces s in an economic, geographical, social and cultural context, including gender as a important dimension. By focusing on the interdependency of these areas in determining the process and outcome of business succession the project will seek to generate knowl edge relevant to practitioners and policy makers. Further, it gives a detailed analysis of two important but often neglected themes. First, the study acknowledges the importance of locality to the outcome of the succession process. Second, the study build s on the growing recognition that the major changes of the production on farms and in small family firms, and thereby innovation and development, are connected to the process of transfer to new owners. An important part of the project's research design is the comparison of succession processes in farm businesses and other small family businesses. Farm businesses have often been excluded from small business research, with a possible loss of cross-over learning as a consequence. The study will take advantag e of several theoretical approaches and qualitative and quantitative methods. The project team consists of researchers from the disciplines of entrepreneurship, sociology and social anthropology.