Succession in Moroccan family SMEs: an approach through the family system.

Summary The transfer of family businesses from one generation to the next is the main difficulty faced by families seeking to ensure the continuity of their assets. Yet, for these organizations, it is a strategic moment. Most of the studies devoted to this process of intra-family succession have focused on companies based in Anglo-Saxon countries or in Europe, and, to a lesser extent, in Asia. Moroccan SMEs, the vast majority of which are family-owned, are now faced with a large-scale succession phenomenon, which is becoming a national issue. However, the succession models developed in the existing literature are not necessarily in line with the national culture and the dominant family system in Morocco, an endogamous community system (Todd, 1999), which functions very differently from that prevailing in Anglo-Saxon or European societies. This research seeks to fill this gap. Based on nine case studies, constructed on the basis of successors' life stories, it develops a set of proposals designed to take into account the characteristics of this family system on the dynamics of succession, whether it be the process itself, governance, management of emotions or transmission of psychological property. It shows that patriarchal authority, sibling equality, and endogamy are critical dimensions of a successful succession process. This research seeks to fill this gap. Based on nine case studies, constructed on the basis of successors' life stories, it develops a set of proposals, designed to take into account the characteristics of this family system on the dynamics of succession, whether it is the process itself, governance, management of emotions or transmission of psychological property. It shows that patriarchal authority, equality between siblings, and endogamy are critical dimensions of the success of the succession process.