Nurturing the Interpreneur

Abstract

Few topics in the family business literature have been studied more than management and ownership succession. In today’s competitive global economy, businesses find that innovation, growth and other entrepreneurial behaviors are necessary to survive and prosper. Ernesto Poza (1988) proposed a model for developing entrepreneurial orientations and actions in family business successors, labeling those successors interpreneurs. This study reports the results of interviews with five second-generation company owners and determines how well their experiences match the precepts of Poza’s model. Analyses find that the CEOs behaved entrepreneurially post-transition, but with few examples of conscious preparation by the preceding founders. For the five cases studied, family relationships and business involvement in childhood and adolescence appear to have been influential factors.