The effect of Successor Commitment on Corporate Growth Strategy in local family businesses in the manufacturing sector in Nairobi County, Kenya.

Abstract

Family commitment is at the heart of the family business. Family members’ involvement and
commitment are critical to the continuity and survival of the family firm. This means that family
members’ integration into the business, the grooming process that takes place to prepare the
offspring for their leadership role in the business, the deeply entrenched community values and
family beliefs which allow the family business to have its unique corporate culture and to
develop its own governance model through its family council, all contribute significantly to the
corporate strategies adopted and hence the continuity and survival of family firms. Successors
are an important stakeholder group in the succession process. In the absence of a successor who
is managerially and physically capable of taking over the ownership, succession within the
family will rarely occur. The successor's willingness to take over depends on three main
variables: - commitment to the family; the maturity of the successor, and finally; the degree of
responsibility of the successor. The higher these three variables are, the higher the successor's
willingness to take over, and consequently the higher the overall satisfaction with the succession
process. .A successor may be willing to take over the family business but not fully committed,
thus jeopardizing the continuity and growth of the family business and all who depend on it.
Key words: Family business, Succession, Successor commitment, corporate growth strategy,
manufacturing, Kenya.