Death
: Heinonen Jarna
: Howorth Carole, Discua Cruz Allan
Publisher: Edward Elgar
: 2024
: Elgar Encyclopedia of Family Business
: Elgar Encyclopedias in Business and Management
: 124
: 128
: 5
: 978-1-80088-871-5
: 978-1-80088-872-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722.ch27(external)
: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722(external)
The death of a family member and leader is a stressful event, which requires decision and actions to be taken in family and business spheres. In the family sphere family members need to cope with their grief due to the loss of the loved one, and in the business sphere the continuation of the family business needs to be secured by reorganising its leadership and ownership. The entry on death discusses how the family copes with its bereavement over the predecessor, who is oftentimes the main owner and CEO of the firm, and how the continuation of the family business can be secured after the death. The entry argues that it is important for family businesses to be prepared for the loss of the family business leader although death is oftentimes silenced as an unknown and mysterious phenomenon.