Generation to Generation: Life Cycles of the Family Business

Generation to Generation presents one of the first comprehensive overviews of family business as a specific organizational form. Focusing on the inevitable maturing of families and their firms over time, the authors reveal the dynamics and challenges family businesses face as they move through their life cycles. The book asks questions, such as: what is the difference between an entrepreneurial start-up and a family business, and how does one become the other? How does the meaning of the business to the family change as adults and children age? How do families move through generational changes in leadership, from anticipation to transfer, and then separation and retirement? This book is divided into three sections that present a multidimensional model of a family business. The authors use the model to explore the various stages in the family business life span and extract generalizable lessons about how family businesses should be organized.

Kelin E. Gersick is a professor of organizational psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles, and a cofounder and senior partner of Lansberg, Gersick and Associates, a consulting and research firm specializing in family enterprise and philanthropy. John A. Davis is a senior lecturer of business administration at the Harvard Business School and president of the Owner Managed Business Institute, Santa Barbara, an international educational institute for family business specializing in consulting, customized programs, and presentations. Marion McCollom Hampton is an associate professor of management at Boston University. Ivan Lansberg is a cofounder and senior partner of Lansberg, Gersick and Associates.