Purpose

The purpose is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ exit strategies and modes of entry. The topic of exit strategies in the context of approaching retirement warrants further attention.

Design/methodology/approach

We apply logistic regression to analyse 1,192 responses to an online survey of firms with entrepreneurs aged over 55.

Findings

Family successors are more likely to choose family succession and buyers to choose to sell, but the association between founding and exit mode cannot be confirmed. Firm size is also significant. Our findings suggest that entry and exit via a business transfer are linked. Entrepreneurs might be influenced by their form of entry when choosing their exit strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The data were collected from a single European country, limiting generalisation. Future research should incorporate intervening variables not controlled for here, such as, entrepreneurial experience. Future studies should also seek to test the existence of imprinting directly, as it is implied rather than verified here.

Practical implications

If the entry mode has a lasting effect on the entrepreneur as our results suggest, thus influencing the exit strategy selected, entrepreneurs could benefit from greater awareness of the imprinting mechanism. Increasing awareness of imprinted biases could unlock the benefits of exit strategies previously overlooked.

Originality/value

The study is the first to consider sale, family succession and liquidation as exit strategies in relation to the original entry mode of ageing owners. It contributes to the understanding of exit strategies of ageing entrepreneurs and proposes using entrepreneurial learning and imprinting as lenses to clarify the phenomenon.

中文翻译：

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退休企业家与继任者规划：进入模式决定退出策略吗？

目的

目的是考察企业家的退出策略和进入模式之间的关系。临近退休背景下的退出策略这一话题值得进一步关注。

设计/方法论/途径

我们应用逻辑回归分析了对企业家年龄超过 55 岁的公司进行的在线调查的 1,192 份回复。

发现

家族继承人更有可能选择家族继承，买家更可能选择出售，但创立与退出模式之间的关联无法得到证实。公司规模也很重要。我们的研究结果表明，通过业务转让进入和退出是相互关联的。企业家在选择退出策略时可能会受到进入形式的影响。

研究局限性/影响

这些数据是从一个欧洲国家收集的，限制了概括性。未来的研究应该纳入此处未控制的干预变量，例如创业经验。未来的研究还应该寻求直接测试印记的存在，因为它是暗示的而不是在这里验证的。

实际影响

如果正如我们的结果所表明的那样，进入模式对企业家产生持久影响，从而影响所选择的退出策略，那么企业家可以从对印记机制的更多认识中受益。提高对印记偏见的认识可以释放以前被忽视的退出策略的好处。

原创性/价值

该研究首次将出售、家族继承和清算视为与老龄业主原有的进入模式相关的退出策略。它有助于理解老年企业家的退出策略，并建议使用创业学习和印记作为镜头来澄清这一现象。