The King Is Dead – Long Live Who? (Eddleston et al., 2025) | JMS FT50

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit—where we break down the most groundbreaking research from the world’s top academic journals. If you’re looking for cutting-edge insights from the most prestigious minds in business and management, you’re in the right place.Today, we dive into a study that tackles a question no business owner wants to think about: What happens when the CEO-owner of an SME suddenly dies? Who should step in—the family heir, or an experienced outsider? How does the choice impact the financial future of the company?Published in the Journal of Management Studies, an elite FT50 journal, this research by Kimberly A. Eddleston, Philipp Sieger, Francesco Chirico, and Massimo Baù explores the delicate balance of leadership, crisis management, and company survival. Through an extensive study of Swedish SMEs, the authors reveal a surprising truth: while non-family successors provide immediate stability, it’s the family insiders with deep firm experience who steer the business toward long-term recovery.So, in the face of an unexpected tragedy, should a business prioritize family legacy or financial resilience?A huge thank you to the authors and the Journal of Management Studies, published by the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd., for this thought-provoking research.If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Apple Podcasts. And for more deep dives into academic research, check out our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher.Now, let’s get into the details—who truly keeps the kingdom alive when the king is gone?ReferenceEddleston, K.A., Sieger, P., Chirico, F. and Baù, M. (2025), The King Is Dead – Long Live Who? A Family and Firm Embeddedness Perspective on Succession after the CEO-Owner's Sudden Death. J. Manage. Stud. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13183Youtube Channel⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠Support us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/weekendresearcher