Introduction to my Thesis: please read and be critical.

Introduction

Succession is a significant part of life, it signals the transition from old to new. Succession indicates a continuum and turns a life into a legacy. Succession has been a focus of people's attention as it encompasses many different aspects of life, especially in family succession. The conflict between siblings or candidates, the process of the incumbent stepping aside, the chosen candidate rising to power and the unsuccessful candidates acceptance or denial of the situation.

A prime example of this focus and the aspects that engross people's attention can easily be depicted in the film "The Godfather". The Godfather, a 1972 multi Oscar winning film starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan, where an ageing patriarch must transfer his business to his son, the most reluctant of his siblings (IMDB, 2010). This film summarises succession planning as it illustrates sibling rivalry, the importance of business and family, conflicting goals between the business, the family and the individual. The film also shows great emotional attachment of the founder to the business, their role after the succession has occurred and the secrecy held by family towards the business. The film also shows that no formal succession plan was used, a common element in family business today.

In an academic perspective succession has also been a major focus (DeMassis, Chua and Chrisman, 2008). Chua, Chrisman and Sharma (2003) found that 19.5% of research on family and business is based on succession. This proves a plethora of research done in this area, but much of it focuses on North America.

Hospitality is the "friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers" (Oxford Dictionary Online, 2010). By its very definition the hospitality industry endears itself toward family values. In a hotel we seek a home-away-from-home and where would guests be most at ease than in a hotel run by a family that is almost an extended part of the guest's own; such is their longevity in the guest lives, their involvement in the events of the guest's lives be it the wedding or the communion. The hotel is the often forgotten guest at stages of a family's life that are important milestones such as the christening, the wedding or funeral. The hotel provides such basic needs as shelter and food, these are the basic needs that the family unit supplies. A hotel can often be seen as a home away from home, but the researcher feels that the business ethos from his family background in hotels sums up the family hotel industry: Let our family look after yours.

Rationale for this research

O'Connor (2000) found that the majority of the Irish hospitality industry were family owned businesses and with the industry contributing over 151,000 jobs to the economy in 2007 (CSO, 2007). The hospitality industry therefore is a crucial part of the Irish economy.

A shocking finding from Beckhard & Dyer (1983a) stated that only 30% of family businesses survive into the second generation and of that 30% only 15% survive into the third generation. Marshal, Sorenson, Brigham, Wieling, Reifman and Wampler
(2006) found that only 34% of their sample population had a formal succession plan. Is this the case in Ireland?

The researcher has also a personal interest in the research topic. The researcher was born into the third generation of hoteliers. There was no evidence of a formal succession plan used during the transfer of from the previous generation to the current generation. The researcher felt this was an interesting development during the transfer of the businesses. This is developed upon during the reflexivity section in the methodology chapter.

This study aims to address issues of succession planning in Irish family owned hotels through the use of structured interviewing and thematic analysis. This study addresses the level of succession planning in family owned Irish hotels, attitudes of the successor to the business, themselves and past generations. It also deals with issues arising from succession and how successors deal with conflict.

 

 

 

Layout of research

The introduction was a synopsis of the research to come. It described the foundation of the previous research done in this area, this will be elaborated upon in the literature review in the next chapter. The introduction also illustrated the rationale for this research. This combined research from the Irish hospitality industry and research from the succession forum. Finally the introduction eluded to the research questions.

Following the introduction, the researcher then reviews the previous literature pertaining to the different areas involved in the research. The areas are reviewed starting in a broad manner and the filtered down to specific topics that the research will address. The literature review opens with small to medium businesses in Ireland, the Irish family business and the Irish hospitality industry. The literature review then progresses to the literature surrounding succession planning, succession consultants and conflict in the family business. Finally, the literature review concludes with the research questions to be answered throughout the research.

The third chapter reviews the methodology used to gather the primary research. The researcher identifies the approach taken towards the data collection and reflexivity. The reflexivity enlightens the reader to the biases, background and influences on the researcher. This allows the reader to understand the researchers stance on family, business and succession. The methodology chapter defends the primary research plan, the use of structured interviews and ethical issues that may arise. The chapter concludes with a discussion around data analysis, the validity of the research, the reliability of the research and difficulties and limitations experienced by the researcher.

The fourth chapter summarises the main findings of the research. Firstly, the researcher deemed it necessary for a picture to be drawn of the sample interviews through a section regarding their profile. This section outlines there generation, number of siblings, sibling gender and whether outside parties were involved in the succession. The data collected from the structured interviews is reduced to common themes. These themes are protecting the legacy, expectations, conflict and conflict avoidance. Each theme is explained and evidence from the interviews are presented in tables.

The discussion chapter aims to discuss the findings from the primary research and analyse them with research from the literature section. This chapter uses the research questions explained in chapter two are used as a guide to organising the themes, and ultimately answering the questions. Conclusions are then drawn from the discussion.

The final chapter outlines the main conclusions drawn from the discussion chapter. The conclusions are set out as a summary of the discussion chapter. These conclusions have implications for both the academic and practical world. The chapter finishes with further research for this area and limitations to the research carried out.