Abstract

Different types of strategic renewal by the successor are identified: organisational change, innovation, combined actions and no action. The main assumption is that renewal after succession improves SME post-transfer performance compared to no actions taken. Also, successor's timing of the takeover is observed, looking at the economic conditions in the year of ownership transfer: decline, average or growing conditions. The hypotheses are tested on a random stratified sample of 333 Dutch firms. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and complementary T-tests show that organisational change, product/market innovation and combined actions all increase post-transfer performance compared to no renewal. Strategic renewal pays off in any economic period, but mostly so in periods of economic decline. The control variable firm size is a significant predictor: the smaller the firm the better the post-transfer performance.

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