Background: Succession is a crucial concern for family business owners where an issue of importance is to retain the control within the family. Succession is a planned process which must be put in place to rearrange the leadership from one family member to another. It is a fragile process which requires a precise and in- depth planning as a result of the different essence of family firms. One of the most thriving and successful entrepreneurship regions in Sweden is the GGVV-region, Gnosjö, Gislaved, Värnamo and Vaggeryd, located in south of Sweden and consists of many family firms. Most of the companies in the GGVV-region are successful, at the same time, family firms in this region manage to go through successions and keep the business within the family. However, there is a little research available on succession within the GGVV-region. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to discover and examine the individual- and organizational level factors involved in succession for family members within family firms in the GGVV-region. The study will also identify what challenges family firms in this region deal with during the succession process. Method: The research was made with a qualitative approach, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews to collect the data. Ten face-to-face interviews were conducted with family firm owners in order to gather information about the succession process. An inductive approach has been used to analyze and interpret the data. Conclusion: It was concluded that common individual level- and organizational level factors has a major impact and is of importance when it comes to the succession process within the GGVV-region. Furthermore, it was also found that challenges such as; understand the complexity, clear work description andreleasing the control tend to have a crucial role within the succession process.

Background: The firm’s choice of the optimal financial structure remains an unsolved problem within finance. The reasoning behind family firms’ specific financial structure differs within various research. The GGVV-region is composed of four small municipalities: Gnosjö, Gislaved, Värnamo, and Vaggeryd. This region is seen as the best dynamic counties in all of Sweden, it is also considered the most successful area of the countryside in terms of its economic contribution. Because of these aspects, it is therefore of great importance to investigate the difference of the financial structure within generations of family firms. Purpose: This paper studies whether there is a correlation between the generation in charge of family businesses within the GGVV-region and the financial structure of the businesses. Aim: The aspiration is that this research will be a good addition to the understanding of family businesses in the GGVV-region along their financial policies within different generations running the firm. Method: This study will contain 42 family firms within the GGVV-region defined as family firms through a questionnaire. The financial structure of the first-generation and non-first-generation family firm will be investigated using their debt ratios throughout the years 2015-2019. The testing is performed through Panel Data Model using Random Effects Model, along with descriptive statistics of the data and a Difference-in-Difference test. Conclusion: No significant difference can be found at any level between the 1GFF and the Non-1GFF when it comes to their financial structure.