The next succession: Keeping a family business intact in the third generation

Any succession in a family business can be difficult. But in my experience — and literature on the subject supports what I’ve observed — the transition between the second and third generation of a family business is by far the most difficult. While there are numerous studies citing various percentages of family business survival over generations, most if not all agree that as time goes on, the transition becomes more difficult, and many family businesses sell or fail.