The impact of continuity outlook and development activities on growth intentions

Despite extensive research into succession planning, little is known about the impact of the continuity outlook of a firm on growth intentions. The objectives of the study are to examine 1) the effect of different continuity outlooks of the firm on growth intentions, 2) the effect of exploration and exploitation activities on growth intentions, and 3) the differences in exploration and exploitation activities between different continuity outlooks of the firm. The data set of 929 responses was collected from CEOs of Finnish SMEs aged 55 or more using a web-based survey. The results show that the most important variable explaining high growth intentions is exploration activity. Succession, co-owners continuing the firm and selling the firm outside the family as continuity outlooks are positively associated with growth intentions in contrast to closing down the firm. Results also show that exploration activities are on a higher level with co-owners continuing the firm or succession as continuity outlooks compared to closing down the firm or selling the firm outside the family.