ABSTRACT
Despite the acclaimed contributions
of small businesses to growth of various economies, Nigeria inclusive, majority
of family-owned businesses are confronted with similar challenge in the area of
business continuity. With the dynamic and turbulent nature of Nigeria’s
business environment, increasing number of small family businesses operating in
Nigeria have either shutdown or stopped operating at the retirement,
incapacitation or death of the business proprietors/owners, owing to the
absence of a clear succession plan, vision disconnect between the owner and the
successor, lack of interest, requisite drive, technical knowledge and
capabilities to manage the business prudently. Hence, this study investigates
leadership succession and sustainability of small family-owned businesses in
Anambra, South East Nigeria. The study employed the survey research design,
carried out in Onitsha and Nnewi commercial and industrial hubs of Anambra
State. The simple random sampling technique was employed to select sample of
298 registered small business owners. A five-point Likert structured 6-item
questionnaire was adopted for data collection. The study employed Pearson
Product Moment Correlation to determine the relationship between the dependent
and independent variables. Also, the Paired Sample t-test was employed to
verify the existence of statistical evidence proving that the mean difference
between the paired observations in the hypothesis is significantly different
from zero. The findings revealed that, mentoring and human capital development
has significant influence on sustainability of small family owned businesses.
The study therefore recommended that, family businesses owners should identify
the successor early enough and adopt mentorship as a process to equipping the
successor, who must however willingly show genuine interest and is not coerced into the
business, and adequate time should be devoted for training of chosen
successors, in order to equip them with relevant skills that will make their
businesses survive beyond the present through several generations.