Theory and practice of the evolutionary networks of potential in a family business succession

Aim/purpose - This paper aims to introduce and describe a new paradigm (model) of evolutionary dynamism of family business potential in the succession process and its empirical simulation in family enterprises from culturally close "post-socialistic" countries: the Czech Republic and Poland. Design/methodology/approach - The conceptual basis for developing the evolutionary model of family business was our research on the sample of 235 small and medium-sized family enterprises from the Czech Republic and Poland. A practical experimental simulation of the model was carried out in 12 Czech and 19 Polish family companies. Findings - The proposed model is based on economic and natural laws, including optimization proportions of the golden ratio, laws of time economics, theory of innovation, and "Moore's law." This model allows us to simulate and analyze the pace of accelerating innovation cycles and the dynamism of intergenerational changes of family business potential in the succession process. Research implications/limitations - The social and industrial revolution 5.0 is getting near and global economic, social, cultural, ecological, and other contemporary turbulences, built on the "microcosm optimization" of living matter, having two extreme marginal variants for the subsequent (evolutionary) development of family business: (a) an option of "harmony" or (b) an option of "tragedy." One limitation of the model is its general nature, making it sensitive to outlier cases. Originality/value/contribution - The proposed model provides valuable analytical guidelines for family business succession and significantly highlights the role of intrafamily dynamics in this process. It also represents a novel analytical approach to assessing and predicting the longevity of family business as well as an opportunity for the development of mixed research in family entrepreneurship.