Last week was exciting, to say the least — the third module of my programme took place in Amsterdam, giving me a fabulous opportunity to receive refreshing feedback, gentle nudges, and second opinions on my progress. I was very happy to reconnect with fellow participants, especially those working on topics related to family-owned businesses.

In order to pat two birds with one stroke, this entry will be a two-for-one: a huge shout-out to the programme — especially my supervisor and fellow participants — and a few glimpses for you into what’s going on in the journey.

I’m not sure about astrological signs and where Mercury has been over the past months, but my PhD journey has definitely been under the sign of “Topic Precision.” The stars forming this constellation can be seen most clearly between 4:30 and 7:15 in the morning (no matter when the sun rises), and they resemble a Bill-Murray-less groundhog peeling an onion in a distinctive Russian-doll style.

The first step of this PhD trajectory is separating the already Known from the Unknown, thus identifying the gap. The outcome of this exercise should be a structured literature review on the Known, and a final research proposal describing how I am going to address the identified gap in my subsequent papers.

The starting point of my journey was the study of routines in family-owned businesses — particularly their role in balancing rigidity and extreme agility. It soon became clear that routines need a more concrete context; otherwise, we would first need to clone me multiple times (preferably creating enhanced and much smarter versions) and then launch a massive attack on all possible routines. Thus, the outcome of the first iteration was the decision to focus on the routines surrounding one of the most crucial steps in the life of a family-owned business: succession.

Succession is a prerequisite for the longevity and continuity of family-owned businesses and remains a major concern, not only from a practical but also from a theoretical perspective. This is reflected in research — as of spring 2025, a search for "succession" and "family-owned businesses" on Scopus database delivers over 1,200 articles. Selecting the best successor remains at the very top of the agenda for almost every family-owned business, and this task seems, at first glance, to be clearly defined. This led to the next iteration: could the entry point be the selection process? Potentially, yes — but the body of literature around decision-making is already quite impressive.

Except — what does “the best” actually mean?

The succession process is considered successful when both the continuity of the business and the harmony within the family are preserved. Hence, the "best" successor would be the candidate who satisfies the requirements of both family logic and business logic. Thus, the next iteration leads to a closer look at those logics…

To quote one of the most eloquent yet adorable characters, the Donkey from Shrek:

“Are we there yet?”

Dear Donkey, this is a very Far Far Away Kingdom — and you are not even halfway down the road of year one…

Keep your upper lip stiff, and may the power of the onion peeling Groundhog be with you!

The title picture was generated with help of AI