Business Transferability Chances: Does the Gender of the Owner-Manager Matter?

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the question of whether possible differences in the economic behavior and development of female- and male-led family enterprises prior to successions affect their transferability to the next generation. Using large-scale panel data, we find no general gender-specific differences in economic behavior in the pre-transfer phase, except the fact that women tend to invest less in capacity expansion and generate less turnover. These differences however are not the case in the profit situation of men- and women-led enterprises. Accordingly, men- and women-led enterprises do not differ in anticipating existence-threatening problems in the course of the business succession process. Differences in investment behavior therefore do not seem to harm the transfer process, although structural differences, including the company size or industry affiliation might.