Title: Examining the impact of new policy facilitating SME succession in Japan: from a viewpoint of risk management in family business

Authors: Katsuyuki Kamei; Leo-Paul Dana

Addresses: Faculty of Safety Science (FSS), Kansai University, Takatsuki Muse Campus, 7-1 Hakubai-cho, Takatsuki, 569-1098 Osaka, Japan. ' Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier Business School, Montpellier Research in Management, France

Abstract: In Japan, the difficulty surrounding SME succession has become one of the biggest social problems as society ages. Thus, every year 70,000 small businesses stop operations because the director cannot find a successor. Under these circumstances, Japan introduced a drastic reform to facilitate SME succession in 2008: the Diet voted for a law facilitating SME succession and the government reformed the taxation regarding succession of stocks of small business. After reviewing the legislation and reform policy concerning SME succession, the authors carry out a case study analysis based on the interview with a president of a firm in Osaka. We suggest that the 2008 reforms can be helpful.

Keywords: Japan; risk management; SME succession; transmission; SME policy; narrative; family business; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; taxation; tax reform; legislation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2012.046917

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2012 Vol.16 No.1, pp.60 - 70

Published online: 14 Aug 2014 *

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