Research Article
The Effect of Succession Types in Korean Chaebols on Diversification Strategies
Published: January 1993 · Vol. 22, No. 2 · pp. 121-140
Full Text
Abstract
Despite corporate succession being an inevitable process that can affect the continuous growth of organizations, academic research in this field has thus far been neither active nor comprehensive in its approach. Therefore, this paper examines corporate succession from the perspective of overall corporate management rather than merely as an issue among owner-family members, with Korean chaebols as the specific subject of investigation. First, through a theoretical review, the familial and organizational attributes inherent in corporate succession and the types of corporate succession were examined, after which the corporate succession types of Korean chaebols were classified into sole-type family succession, separation-type family succession, and professional manager succession. Next, the actual corporate succession process was modeled based on the diverse stakeholder interests that serve as influencing factors in corporate succession. Subsequently, the relationship between the corporate succession model and post-succession management strategies was empirically analyzed, and the causes of differences in the characteristics of each corporate group classified into different categories according to succession type were examined for each group. Finally, the implications of this study's findings were presented for enterprises seeking to minimize turbulence during the transitional period of succession and to infuse new capabilities for corporate survival and development through succession.
