LAUSR

ABSTRACT This article focuses on hybrid succession teams that comprise both family and nonfamily members, to identify the reasons and criteria for forming these teams, as well as the difficulties they encounter during the succession process. The empirical results, based on three longitudinal case studies (two failures and one success), reveal the strong and sometimes negative influence of the predecessor on the constitution and functioning of these succession teams. In particular, the predecessor may choose this form of succession and the members of the team, based solely on the complementarity of their skills. The predecessor’s natural preference for family members also can be a source of conflict, because it creates information asymmetry between family and nonfamily successors. Consequently, a lack of strong ties among team members and the presence of information asymmetry can increase the risk of succession team dissolution.