Family businesses: Case studies on non-family CEOs

This study aims to help family business organizations in their search for outside, nonfamily talent who can competently fulfill top management roles, particularly that of the CEO. The available body of knowledge indicates various determinants for predicting the effectiveness of managers. However, these determinants are not specifically intended to predict the effectiveness of top non-family managers, particularly CEOs, serving family businesses. In these family business environments, additional, specific determinants may apply. Much has been written about the wisdom of succession planning in family business organizations, but when the choice of successor starts to include outsiders, guidance in the selection process is lacking. This study aims to provide this needed guidance. This study sought to identify the personal and professional attributes that a non-family CEO candidate needs to have in order to increase his chances of being effective in his target role. It also intends to provide family business owners with the much needed guidance in selecting and training outside talent for this role, so that they may be spared from the burden of learning from a series of selection mistakes, which can be costly. In addition to identifying the attributes necessary for qualifying a candidate as a probable fit for the family business CEO role, rationales for such attributes’ necessity as well as explanations of their utility at the CEO’s workplace were also be uncovered