SUCCESSION IN THE SMALL

Abstract

OPTIONS OPEN TO SMALL FIRMS Small firms constitute 90 per cent. of those engaged in manufacturing and distribution. Pressures of competition and the necessary reliance upon one or two key men cause many small firms to disappear without trace—others amalgamate or become absorbed into larger units as their very success draws attention to themselves and to their needs for the specialist knowledge available in the bigger unit. But as rapidly as small organisations disappear, others appear to take their place. New industries or new expressions of personal service frequently favour this. It may also be expected that the effects of Selective Employment Tax and the Training Board Levy, with their encouragement to existing organisations to divest themselves of labour, will create opportunities for small industrial units not hitherto directly favoured in this way. The major long‐term problem of the small organisation is most likely to be management or executive succession. Where, as is often the case, the driving force, the business skill, behind the company is one man, the problem of his replacement is likely to loom large to himself, his family, his colleagues (who recognise their own incapacity for this role), and those employees who depend upon the continuance of the firm for their livelihood.