Governance and Restructuring of Family Businesses in the Age of Generational Transition

Project title: Governance and Restructuring of Family Businesses in the Age of Generational Transition
Project acronym: 2ND-GEN-FAM-BIZ
Project number: uniri-iz-25-23
Project financing: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Project duration: 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2029
Total value of the project (EUR): 41.544,25
Legal disclaimer: The project is funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

Name and surname: Associate professor Mihaela Braut Filipović, PhD
E-mail: mihaelabf@pravri.uniri.hr

• Professor Edita Čulinović-Herc, PhD, edita.culinovic.herc@pravri.uniri.hr
• Professor Dionis Jurić, PhD, dionis.juric@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Professor Sandra Laleta, PhD, sandra.laleta@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Professor Nataša Žunić Kovačević, PhD, natasazk@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Professor Maja Bukovac Puvača, PhD, maja.bukovac.puvaca@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Professor Mirela Alpeza, PhD, mirela.alpeza@efos.hr 
• Professor Steen Thomsen, PhD, st.ccg@cbs.dk 
• Associate professor Antonija Zubović, PhD, antonija.zubovic@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Associate professor Mirjana Grčić Fabić, PhD, mirjana.grcic.fabic@efri.uniri.hr 
• Associate professor Ana Dujmović, PhD, ana.dujmovic@pf.sum.ba 
• Assistant professor Karla Kotulovski, PhD, kkotulovs@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Viktorija Pisačić, mag. iur., vpisacic@pravri.uniri.hr 
• Mateo Pahljina, spec. iur., mateo.pah@gmail.com

Family businesses are an important factor in the Croatian economy. In these companies, members of the same family typically hold one or more roles, whether as founders, shareholders, managers, and/or employees. As most of these businesses were established in the 1990s, they are now facing a key challenge: the first generational transfer of business, aiming to preserve the value and continuity of family entrepreneurship. The transfer of business shares requires a coordinated analysis of company law with obligations, inheritance, labor, and tax regulations, together with economic aspects – from valuation methods to financial and strategic assessments of business sustainability. The research will also examine instruments for long-term control over family businesses, such as family foundations, By analyzing and synthesizing the legal and economic aspects of governance and restructuring of family businesses amid generational change, this research will offer scientifically grounded recommendations to improve the regulatory framework and enhance the sustainability of family businesses in generational transitions.

Project goals:

• to conduct a scientific analysis of the legal aspects of governance and business transfer in family businesses during generational transitions under Croatian company law, and to link these findings with other legal disciplines (labour, tax, contract, and inheritance law) as well as with related interdisciplinary economic aspects.
• to compare and exchange the results of the conducted scientific research with the findings of other international research groups within the European context.
• to communicate and exchange the results of the scientific research with various categories of stakeholders (the judiciary, policymakers, family businesses and others), and to propose appropriate legal solutions for family businesses currently undergoing their first generational transition, thereby strengthening cooperation and the social responsibility of the public higher education institution towards the business sector.
• to disseminate the results of the scientific research to the academic and professional community, including proposals for amendments to the legislative framework, in line with the principles of open science, and to disseminate the research findings to the wider public in a science-popular format.

Expected results:

• The research team will, throughout the duration of the project, publish scientific papers in open access and digital format, thereby ensuring their continuous availability to the academic, professional, and wider public community. In addition, team members will present the research findings at various dissemination events (either organised by the team itself or by other institutions), and the conclusions and/or book of abstracts from these events will be made available in digital form on the project’s website.
• The research team will also maintain a digital blog, published on the Faculty’s website, through which the results of the research will be communicated in a science-popular format.
• The goal of these activities is to analyse and propose legal solutions that will facilitate the generational transition of family businesses and contribute to the preservation of tradition and the long-term success of these companies.

Key words:

• Family business, family business governance, transfer of business shares, inheritance law aspects of business transfer, tax law aspects of business transfer, family foundation, business sustainability