Succession and the Transfer of Social Capital in Chinese Family Businesses

In the book *Succession and the Transfer of Social Capital in Chinese Family Businesses – Understanding Guanxi as a Resource* (2018), Xing Ke uses a qualitative, empirical multi-case study to examine how succession processes are structured in Chinese family businesses and what role social capital – in particular the concept of guanxi – plays in this. Based on the observation that family businesses in China represent a central, yet as yet under-researched part of the national economy, the author analyses succession not as a singular act of handover, but as a multi-stage process of decision-making and interaction that is deeply embedded in cultural, familial and institutional contexts.

Central to this is the theoretical link between succession research and an approach based on social capital theory. Ke distinguishes between normative, emotional and instrumental dimensions of social capital and demonstrates that guanxi in Chinese family businesses constitutes a personalised resource that is closely tied to the founder. The transfer of this social capital to the next generation proves to be a critical success factor in succession. Numerous case studies illustrate that the transfer of networks, trust and implicit relational knowledge is often more complex than the formal transfer of ownership or management responsibility.

Furthermore, the study examines how traditional Chinese family structures, Confucian values, the one-child policy and a weak institutional framework influence succession decisions. The author develops a process-based model of succession that integrates ownership, management and relational dimensions and describes various succession patterns – ranging from gradual to abrupt transitions. The work thus makes a substantial contribution to a context-sensitive understanding of family business succession and, at the same time, offers important points of reference for comparative family business research from a WIFU perspective.

Published in 2018 as Volume 25 of the series „Schriften zu Familienunternehmen“, edited by Arist von Schlippe and Tom A. Rüsen, by V&R unipress.