In deze openbare les geef ik in vogelvlucht een overzicht van recente kennis, onderzoek en (inter)nationaal beleid op het gebied van bedrijfsoverdracht. In hoofdstuk 1 baken ik het domein en de theorieen af en formuleer ik een onderzoeksagenda. In hoofdstuk 2 ga ik in op het belang van bedrijfsoverdrachten voor nationale economieen in Europa en op een kader voor beleid bij bedrijfsoverdrachten. Hoofdstuk 3 bespreekt het profiel van overnemers en opvolgers in vergelijking tot starters en de effecten van hun profiel op de bedrijfsresultaten. In hoofdstuk 4 zet ik de aandachtspunten voor de 'body of practice' uiteen, waaronder het gebruik van de Opvolgingsscan, een instrument waarmee ondernemers kunnen zien hoe zij ervoor staan in de aanloop naar verkoop van het bedrijf.
Letting go of the firm or “my baby” as some entrepreneurs describe their creation, leads to a certain amount of stress (Rahim 1996, Kets de Vries 1999). Dealing with stress in singular events as the transfer of a business, is hardly been subject of research (Uy et al. 2012). Improving coping strategies in business transfers for the incumbent could be of importance as statistics indicate the continued aging of owners in the European Union. Expanding the possibilities of incumbents to sell their business and move on to their next phase in their life would help to offset such negative effects to each national economy. The number of failed business transfers of viable SMEs now threatens innovative driven European economies (European Commission 2003, Van Teeffelen 2010, Stone et al. 2004). A recent study calculated that the Dutch economy suffers 20,000 unnecessary SME liquidations and approximately 10,000 failed successions per annum, with a projected economic damage of 80,000 jobs, a loss of turnover of almost € 4 billion and a destruction of assets of about € 2 billion yearly (Van Teeffelen 2012). Therefore we believe that coping strategies and psychological barriers in business transfers deserve more academic attention. Our aim is to check and add items to the list of psychological barriers and finally to relate barriers to coping styles. Therefore we engaged in a qualitative study that seeks to explain a particular issue and allows the researcher to study issues in depth and produces detailed data on a small number of individuals (Hyde 2000).
Every year I talk to many entrepreneurs about business transfers and acquisitions. Only rarely do they tell me that it was a cinch. Buying or selling a business is complex. For a start, a business should be shipshape from an organizational and administrative perspective, while several legal and fiscal matters also affect the transaction. Moreover, many parties are involved in a business transfer: the buyer and the seller, of course, but also the employees, the spouse and/or family of the entrepreneur, the customers and suppliers. Emotions and trust also play a central role in selling a firm. Many owner/managers find it hard to abandon their business. The fact that a transaction of fixed assets may also be involved is another complicating factor. Is it a good thing to include fixed assets in the sale, or in fact the reverse? Considering that most people find it quite hard to sell their own house, engaging an estate agent to do it for them, it is understandable that buying and selling a business is a transaction fraught with difficulties.
