Topic of company succession is still underestimated

With the roadshow "succession bus", the company placement portal companymarket draws attention to the topic of "succession planning". "On board" the succession bus are in each case different experts, who make themselves available at six stations as interlocutors and advisors. On May 31, the succession bus was a guest in Zurich.

Rather start a company than take one over?

The regulation of company succession is "an important topic," said Zurich Cantonal Councilor Carmen Walker Späh in her opening address. Succession planning is of enormous economic importance. After all, it is always about preserving know-how and jobs. The regulation of a company succession deserves more attention. "It's just cooler to say you founded a startup than: I have taken over a company," said Carmen Walker Späh. She pointed to interesting statistical facts: After five years, 50 percent of newly founded companies no longer exist, while the failure rate for company takeovers is only 5 percent...

Fewer and fewer family-internal company successions

Natalie Spross Döbeli shared her experience of succession within the family (see our Interview with her in ORGANISATOR 9/2017). Today, she is CEO of Spross Holding AG and has taken on a not easy legacy, but always voluntarily and out of a sense of duty to the family. Today, she is already thinking about her own succession. This is also right, as Franziska Müller Tiberini, owner of Familienunternehmen.ch AG, confirms. Because people often wait too long before thinking about their own succession. In addition, succession within the family is on the decline. Müller Tiberini sees the reason for this in today's much broader educational palette, which offers children many more options. Taking over the parental company tends to stand in the way of flexible life plans.

De-industrialization due to unresolved company successions?

The topic of company succession is complex. It is about the valuation of a company when it has to be sold, about the financing of the company purchase and also about the role change from buyer to successor or from seller to "retiree". This sometimes requires a lot of psychology, as an expert in company sales confirmed. In any case, the role of a company successor should not be underestimated, also from a macroeconomic point of view. This was pointed out in the two presentations by Reto Rüttimann (Head of SME Corporate Succession at the ZKB) and Hans-Ulrich Bigler, President of the Swiss Trade Association and Member of the National Council. They warned against the de-industrialization of Switzerland due to unresolved successions.

The next follow-up bus event will be held in Basel on June 14. Information: www.nachfolgebus.ch