family enterprise, ethical core values, organizational culture, ethical climate, ethical behaviour, business ethics,

Processes of transferring, interacting, sharing and converting knowledge are of crucial importance in any firm due to their influence on innovations. These processes are especially challenging during the family business succession. A theory-building qualitative study was undertaken to extend our understanding of the dynamics of the knowledge transfer process and its effects on the successor's innovativeness. The findings of the in-depth analysis of 10 family SMEs show that tacit knowledge transferred from a founder to a successor is important but not sufficient for enhancing the successor's innovativeness. It should be combined with the knowledge gained outside the family business. Several propositions were developed that provide basis for future confirmatory research and have implications for practice by providing useful findings to key stakeholders in family businesses as well as to professionals dealing with innovativenness, knowledge transfer and creation in family businesses.

Purpose-Ethical behaviour of enterprises can be attained only by planning of ethics. The purpose of this paper is to show the need for the business ethics planning, to disclose the need for the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics, and to offer the concept of the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Design/methodology/approach-The research cognitions on the importance of ethical core values, enterprise culture, ethical climate and informal as well as formal measures of business ethics are discussed and argued in application of the dialectical systems theory. The various research insights are used and applied in concluding concept of requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Findings-For successful implementation of the ethics program or plan, it is important that the program is internalized by all enterprise's stakeholders. The paper shows that credibility and ethical behaviour of an enterprise can be achieved only through requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Practical implications-This paper gives us the insights in the state of the importance and interconnection between ethical core values, culture and ethical climate as well as informal and formal measures of business ethics in relation to enterprise ethics implementation. The present research paper also has important practical implications since it shows the importance of the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics in a sense of sustainable development of enterprises as well as enterprises' long-term success. Originality/value-The available literature does not provide for a similar research or concept of requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. The paper also models the interconnection between core values, culture, climate and informal as well as formal measures of business ethics in order to understand the importance of enterprise ethics.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to broaden the understanding of family business succession as organizational knowledge creation process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is built on organizational knowledge creation theory and reviews literature on family business succession. Four modes of knowledge conversion are followed to identify knowledge creation activities contributing to family business's knowledge base and to develop propositions. Findings – Successful realization of succession depends not only on “traditional” knowledge creation activities of socialization and internalization, but as well as on active involvement of successor(s) in many aspects of business functioning. This contributes not only to widening successor(s) knowledge base but as well as to the firm's tacit and explicit knowledge triggering a new spiral of knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The paper limits the research on leadership succession as one of the most challenging tasks in family business's life cycle. Moreover, research findings have implications for small- and medium-sized family businesses due to the strong preference of keeping the leadership within a family. Practical implications – Propositions developed provide useful cognitions to professionals and stakeholders involved in succession process. If they understand the complexity of knowledge creation process, they can stand a better chance of improving the process of successor(s)’ development and leadership transfer in such a way that family business will have better chance to survive and progress after the transition. Originality/value – The research provides a comprehensive framework of knowledge creation activities during succession thus indicating the requisitely holistic approach to succession from organizational knowledge creation perspective. The study contributes to the organizational knowledge creation theory and the succession theory.

Family SMEs represent an important share in the structure of all enterprises world-wide. In Slovenia, until recently we did not have at our disposal data or leastwise estimates on the share of the family enterprises as insufficient attention was devoted to their investigation. However, if we proceed from the fact that in Slovenia, especially in the 1990s, the number of SMEs has dramatically increased, it can be assumed that family enterprises also present a significant factor of the economic development in Slovenia. In the years 1998 and 1999 we carried out the first broad research on family enterprises in Slovenia (on the case of one region). The results of this empirical research confirmed that family SMEs present an important share in the structure of all enterprises in the region and therefore present an important factor of the development of this region and of Slovenia.