Family Business Resilience in Times of Radical Change

How can family businesses build resilience in a world of rapid change and uncertainty?

The challenges faced by family businesses are growing: volatile markets, digital transformation, succession complexities, and strategic reorientation in times of crisis. While resilience is widely discussed, there is a lack of actionable insights on how family businesses can proactively adapt and thrive.

This volume brings together leading researchers and practitioners to explore resilience from multiple perspectives: strategy development, business transformation, succession planning, and corporate recovery. Contributions cover topics such as strategic responses to VUCA environments, the role of resilience in business modeling, early warning indicators for organizational decline, and the impact of downsizing as a recovery strategy. Real-world insights and empirical research provide a roadmap for navigating disruption and seizing new opportunities.

With a unique combination of theoretical depth and practical relevance, this book is essential reading for scholars, students, and decision-makers in family business management. It offers fresh perspectives on resilience and equips businesses with the knowledge to sustain long-term success in turbulent times.

• Resilience is considered from the perspectives of strategy development, the family business cycle, organisational decline and downsizing
• Integration of the aspect of downsizing is addressed as a possible alternative for strengthening resilience

Prof. (FH) Mag. Dr. Stefan Märk is Programme Manager and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg (Campus Puch/Urstein), Austria. Combining academic and private sector knowledge (having worked as a family business coach), he started to delve deeper into the world of SMEs blended with a focus on family businesses: especially their threefold "Family-Business-Ownership" emphasis. In addition to his academic activities, he also works in the world of new learning approaches, with a special view on the combination of blending learning and the learning possibilities of organizations.

Prof. (FH) Dr. Dr. Mario Situm is Director of Studies and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein. His research focuses on the early detection of corporate crises, corporate finance, risk management and family businesses. In addition to his previous activities in the financial services and real estate industry, he worked for several years in the banking sector, most recently in a managerial role and as an account manager for key accounts and special financing. He also works as an independent consultant and supports small and medium-sized companies in the implementation of a wide range of business management topics. He is an editorial board member and reviewer for various international trade journals.