Family businesses have a significant impact on the country's economy. They ensure sustainable development and last for generations as well as represent stable employment on a national scale. They are the result of the passion and determination of the founders and owners. In European Union, one in four enterprises belongs to the family. In Germany, they employ more than half of employees. In Poland, over half of the companies are enterprises that are in the hands of enterprising families. Worldwide, every third world concern is a family owned company and only one in three successfully undergoes the process of management change between generations.

Planning the succession is an extremely proactive, dynamic, multi-stage and spread over time process. It assumes the identification of successors and their continuous development, which will allow to take over management positions and take full responsibility for the functioning and results of the organization with the preservation of knowledge, values, family code and respect for the achievements of previous generations. It requires strategic planning and action. Scheduled in advance, provides success to the organization and continuity of its operation. It is a key condition for the survival and development of the family business.

The process of succession means a huge change not only for the founder or owner of the company and his family but for all the people involved in the functioning and development of the company. Therefore, for a multigenerational change, one should look at a few different perspectives: potential successors, key employees, a person responsible for activities in the area of HR or an external manager, when there is a need to hire an external manager. Succession can mean the transfer of some or all of the organization's property or assets, change in the company's board or supervisory board or a broader change in the managerial ranks of the organization. The process of succession looks different in a situation when property and management inheritance passes to a family member and when it is necessary to hire an external manager.