"Aging society" has occurred around the world, which not only changes the direction of the consumer market, but also gradually affects the overall industrial structure. Focusing on Taiwan, 73% of listed companies are family businesses, with an average age of 62 years old, ranking the "oldest" in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the three places. The main reason is that most family businesses in Taiwan "sons to inherit the family business" and have no complete succession plan. The first generation of "old directors" who did not trust professional managers can only "bring the chickens" and go and see.
2018 "The Economist" once said that the age of Taiwanese business owners is the oldest in Chinese world, revealing the dilemma of the second generation's difficulties in succession and the "aging" crisis of Taiwanese companies. Zhang Zhongmou served as the leader of TSMC for 31 years and is regarded as one of the indicators of Taiwan's "old director". 68-year-old Hon Hai Group founder Terry Gou once revealed that the future successor will be the Mesozoic generation under 50 years old.
According to the "2018 Small and Medium Enterprises White Paper" of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, more than 53% of Taiwanese SME bosses are over 50 years old, of which 17% are over 60 years old. In addition, 70% of listed companies are family businesses, and nearly three-quarters are still managed by the founders. The average age of these previous generation bosses is 62 years old, far higher than the 47 years old in mainland China.
According to the industry category, the "ageing age" of Taiwan's manufacturing industry is particularly obvious. The most familiar ones are Hon Hai Group Chairman Terry Gou, 68 years old this year and former TSMC Chairman Zhang Zhongmou. Among them, Zhang Zhongmou decided to retire and hand in June 2018 only when he was over 80 years old. Both successors are over 70 years old, which once again confirms that Taiwan’s corporate culture always has “ging is the hottest” . Of course, rich experiences do help the company stabilize, but age is not only a "pig-killing knife" but also a "double-sided blade". As we grow older, our acceptance of industrial innovation will become more conservative, our thinking will gradually become solidified, and our health will be faced with the most urgent question of "who will take over".
Looks like this and they are almost all cases of failure in succession. In addition, there are too few people who succeed in succession, which has led to most business owners who are reluctant to hand over the baton and dare not let go. Zicheng United Accounting Firm, which has long served Taiwanese companies, released the "2018 Global and Taiwan Family Enterprise Survey Report ", pointing out that 54% of family businesses plan to transfer their operating rights and ownership to the next generation, but only 6% of companies have a sound and communicated succession plan. At the same time, the second generation's successor faces the "multiple carriage" of family businesses, not to mention that the communication between the two generations can easily lead to parent-child dissonance, which can hurt family harmony at the least; at worst, it can destroy the family business itself.
Since there are so many "learnings" of failures, based on the sustainable development of family businesses, it is inevitable to hand over the baton in the future. Why are only a few bosses willing to prepare in advance?
Mr. Li, the second generation of traditional plastic manufacturing, said that in the past, no one led his parents' business, and everything started from scratch. They naturally had no experience in "cultivating successors". At most, they let their children enter the company early and take them to "intern" with them. They are optimistic that when the time comes, they can naturally be successfully handed over to the second generation. But the fact is that most small and medium-sized enterprise bosses have multiple positions, "the principal hits the bell", plus the tradition of human rule over the system makes the second generation unable to learn effectively and systematically. Even if enters the company every day, he is still at a loss for the overall operation and countermeasures of the enterprise. Mr. Li said that in particular, there are "authoritative education" in traditional industries, whether at home or in the company, and the father has the final say. There are "internal and external troubles" in the reform, which only increases the difficulty of the second generation taking over.
According to the 2016 report of the Small and Medium Enterprises Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in Taichung has reached more than 1.4 million from nearly 1.28 million in 2011 to 2017. Nearly 98% of Taiwan are small and medium-sized enterprises, creating about 80% and nearly 9.8 million employed people. Looking back, most companies in Taiwan were founded in the 1980s and successfully rose during the 20-year golden years, known as the " Asian Four Little Dragons ", resulting in the "aging" crisis of enterprises almost at the same time. Although all countries have corporate inheritance issues, no country, like Taiwan, faces succession problems in almost the same time point. According to statistics, the average life expectancy of small and medium-sized enterprises is only about 7 to 13 years, and most enterprises end up in the hands of the first generation. The implication is that if the second generation cannot take over, it will further expand the overall industrial competitiveness of Taiwan in the future.
