Management succession in the bamboo network : case studies in Chinese-Filipino family owned businesses

Interviews with retirement-aged Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs are used to examinefactors that enable retirement and trigger family business succession, using the Push-Pull Model described by Dana (2005), which stresses the importance of operationalpush and pull factors to generate the requisite momentum for retirement. Analysissuggests that the entrepreneur’s ability to find an identity outside the business is thekey to meaningful retirement, which in turn enables generational transition in themanagement of the company. The study also indicates that western models can beapplicable to the Philippine business scenario. It is recommended that incumbentsdevelop the ability to separate work and personal life, as well as treating familybusiness succession as a process rather than an event.