International Scientific Conference: “Business and Management 2022”

At the 12^th International Scientific Conference: “Business and Management 2022”, which was held on 12 May at Vilnius Tech, Faculty of Business Management, Associate Professor Dr Marina Letonja, in cooperation with online tutors mag. Zineta Vilman and Assistant Professor Dr Milan Puvača, presented the results of a comparative study on the subject of the knowledge and skills needed for a successful transfer of family businesses between generations, which was conducted during the Family Entrepreneurship course (March–April 2021). The research involved 206 students from Slovenia and Croatia.

The analysis of the research results enabled the identification and comparison of the most important knowledge and skills needed for the successful transfer of family businesses between generations in Slovenia and, respectively, Croatia and the knowledge identified by The Next Generation participants at the Family Business Center at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland (2015).

The most important knowledge for the successful transfer of family businesses between generations in Slovenia is:

(1) leadership, (2) entrepreneurship, (3) development of a common vision, (4) innovativeness, and (5) personal development.

In Croatia. the most important knowledge is:

(1) entrepreneurship, (2) innovativeness, (3) development of a common vision, (4) personal development, (5) leadership.

The research at IMD (2015) identified the most important knowledge and skills as:

(1) family management, (2) knowledge of entrepreneurship, (3) leadership, and (4) knowledge of succession.

The research highlights the fundamental differences between the two countries, which were shown in the case of different evaluations of the importance of innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship. It would be interesting to identify the reasons for such differences, especially given that the two countries are geographically and culturally very close.