Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: A developmental model of family business --
Pt. 1. The three-dimensional developmental model --
Ch. 1. The ownership developmental dimension --
Ch. 2. The family developmental dimension --
Ch. 3. The business developmental dimension --
Pt. 2. Four classic family business types --
Ch. 4. Founders and the entrepreneurial experience --
Ch. 5. The growing and evolving family business --
Ch. 6. The complex family enterprise --
Ch. 7. The diversity of successions: different dreams and challenges --
Pt. 3. Managing the developing family business --
Ch. 8. Structures and plans for guiding development --
Ch. 9. Consulting with family businesses --
Conclusion: Lesson from the life cycles.

Generation to Generation presents one of the first comprehensive overviews of family business as a specific organizational form. Focusing on the inevitable maturing of families and their firms over time, the authors reveal the dynamics and challenges family businesses face as they move through their life cycles. The book asks questions, such as: what is the difference between an entrepreneurial start-up and a family business, and how does one become the other? How does the meaning of the business to the family change as adults and children age? How do families move through generational changes in leadership, from anticipation to transfer, and then separation and retirement? This book is divided into three sections that present a multidimensional model of a family business. The authors use the model to explore the various stages in the family business life span and extract generalizable lessons about how family businesses should be organized.