소유 또는 전문 CEO 선택이 가족 기업의 장기성과에 미치는 영향: 두 가족기업의 성쇠

This study analyzes the impact that the choice of a professional manager or a member of the owner's family as the next CEO in family-owned enterprises has on their long-term performance. For this purpose, two firms that are similar in terms of industry, age and size, family-ownership, and succession timing in the past, have been selected in order to conduct a longitudinal case study. The results of this study revealed that the professionally managed firm had an advantage in achieving substantial professionalization within a short period of time after the succession, as suggested in the previous studies. In the long run, however, this advantage seemed to backfire as professional managers began to pursue self-interest, a behavior that is known to increases appropriation risks and as a result, professionalization cost. On the other hand, the owner-managed firm did not suffer from the alleged stagnation in growth that has been frequently suggested by previous researches, and achieved fast growth through active globalization and diversification. This result implies that it is desirable for firms to have a long-term perspective on planning their future professionalization when it comes to succession decisions in family-owned enterprises. Finally, this paper shows how the decisions on the sucession of CEOs in family-enterprises and subsequent changes in their growth strategies can affect their long-term competitiveness, providing valuable insight especially for discussions on related topics such as corporate longevity.