Business Transfers in Entrepreneurship Education: A Gap Covered by Buyer School and Successor School

Abstract

Aging is a great challenge for European societies. When the time comes for the entrepreneur to retire, either a business transfer takes place or the firm ceases to exist. This means there is an increasing need for ‘takeover entrepreneurs’. Entrepreneurship education to improve entrepreneurial competencies or learn about starting a business is common in European HEIs, but there is relatively little attention given to family business succession as a career choice and practically none to entrepreneurship through acquisition.  Entrepreneurship courses focus on starting a business, implicitly carrying the assumption that this is the sole way of becoming an entrepreneur or implementing a business idea. In this descriptive paper, a Buyer School and a Successor School developed by one university to bridge the gap is showcased and the rationale behind their development is discussed. The authors conclude that Successor and Buyer Schools show promise in closing the distance between HEI entrepreneurship education and the lived experience of entrepreneurial life. It is hoped that other HEIs are encouraged to offer similar courses or, failing that, to refer to takeover entrepreneurship in their other courses.