La logique du don dans la transmission des entreprises familiales

Abstract

The logic of gift-giving, theorized by Mauss in his famous essay, seems particularly interesting to highlight the logic which underlies the descent of family-owned firms. As the gift requires to be returned, the heritage would require to be retransmitted: by transfering to the children, one would return the gift to the parents. However, a survey of five Walloon family firms, representing up to four generations, leads us to moderate considerably the obligations system of the gift. Economic context, relational tensions, incompatibility of the firm with other projects, disenchantment of the statute, more open and autonomous future projects out of the family, result, in practice, in failures of the intergenerational cycle. © Les presses de Science.