Succession Planning

The lifetime of a successful company is practically unlimited. A business person, on the other hand, may wish to turn his or her attention to new things, enter into well-deserved retirement or even set up a new company. But what will happen to the existing company when they do so?

Obviously, the company must be placed in new hands. Of course, the change in management is – when viewed from the outside – a completely natural procedure that is part of a company's normal lifecycle. However, according to a projection made by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (SME research institute) in Bonn in 2005, of the roughly 71,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany that require a successor, 5,900 will be shut down because no successor is available. This translates into a loss of around 33,500 jobs.

Early preparation for a change in management is thus essential if the company is to maintain its presence in the market. Not least because a successful management transfer requires a whole range of tasks to be mastered. This represents a major challenge, both for the owner and for the future successor. Within the context of the BASEL II agreements, entrepreneurial development potential also plays an increasingly important role when it comes to granting credit to companies, making it all the more important for companies to focus their attention on safeguarding their future.

Within the scope of the "nexxt" succession planning initiative, the WFG wishes to support business people and their potential successors by providing them with some initial guidance. For further information on the issue of succession planning, please visit the internet portal www.nexxt.org.

"nexxt" is a collective initiative by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), KfW Mittelstandsbank, and representatives from associations, institutions and organisations relating to business, the banking system and the freelance professions. The WFG is the regional partner for the initiative. The "nexxt" partners' goal is to create a favourable climate for handing over the management reins within German companies. To this end, a campaign platform was established under the collective umbrella label "nexxt", which pools all resources relating to the issue of succession planning.

To the succession planning internet portal: www.nexxt.org

Contact person
Hans-Peter Schomisch
Tel. (+49) 0261/108-282
Fax (+49) 0261/108-8282
eMail