« Mon entreprise ne restera pas dans ma famille ! » – Typologie de cédants potentiels en fonction des raisons de ce choix

Many owner-managers nearing retirement, despite the existence of potential successors within the family, prefer to sell the business outside the family. This article concerns the presentation of the results of an exploratory study based on a survey conducted in Brittany with 54 owner-managers aged 55 or more in SMEs from 10 to 100 employees in the sectors of industry and construction, intending to sell their business outside the family and having at least one adult child. We identified five main subjects concerning the reflection of owner-managers: the interest of the activity for the next generation, geographic location as an obstacle to the desired succession, looking for technical skills among successors, the financial opportunity and sensitivity to the interest of potential family successors. Cluster analysis brings out five groups of individuals with specific behaviors. Our goal was to study their preference for non-family succession and their positioning in relation to a possible intra-family succession.