Family business governance for ensuring a qualified management succession in a family business -- how to cope with the increasing amount of management successions in German family businesses

Family businesses are the fundamental basis of the German medium-sized enterprises. Business succession planning, i.e., transfer of management functions and ownership to one or more family members, gained a significant importance over the last few years. This article aims to analyse the characteristics of the family business succession planning, underlines the significance of family business governance for ensuring the qualified management succession and gives suggestions on how to implement the German Governance Code recommendations in family businesses.