Type:
Event

Not all next-gens are alike: The future of family firms - 12 Sep 2025

Family firms depend on the next generation for continuity and growth, but these future leaders follow diverse paths shaped by personal and contextual factors. This breakfast seminar explored the often-overlooked differences among next-gens and how families better support them in planning for the future.

Entrepreneurship and business leadership often run within families, highlighting the critical role of next-gens – i.e., the offspring of current family firm owners – in shaping the future of the family business. Yet, not all next-gens are equally positioned or encouraged to lead, as their career trajectories and opportunities in the family business vary significantly due to factors such as birth order, upbringing environment and gender. In fact, the heterogeneity among these next-gens remains underemphasized in both practice and the extant research. Thus, we know little about next-gens’ differences in behavior, preferences, and characteristics.

In exploring this heterogeneity, we first focus on the career choices made by these next-gens at different life stages, as such decisions not only shape their own professional life and career trajectories but also influence the future of the family business in terms of long-term performance and survivability. Second, we discuss differences in the propensity of daughters versus sons to take over the family business and show how these gender-based differences influence the future of the family firm’s performance.

This breakfast seminar offered insights from research and practice on understanding differences among siblings in family businesses, particularly how these differences shape their career trajectories, opportunities, and roles both within and outside the family firm. In the format of a panel discussion, next generation members of successful Swedish business families shared how their distinct characteristics and choices, compared to those of their siblings, influence their paths and opportunities related to the family business.

The Center for Family Enterprise is generously supported by SEB, Salenia, Ferd, Virala, Topsoe and HMP Foundation. This activity would not have been possible without their support.