As far as the Allgäu Top Hotels are concerned, Sybille Wiedenmann is very relaxed. 80 of the large hotels in the Allgäu cooperate with one another in the association; it is the largest regional hotel association of its kind in Germany. They do not have problems with young talent there, many hotels are family-run, the next generation is already working in the companies, for example managing parts of a hotel. You have launched a program, “Next Generation”, in which future hotel managers can exchange ideas. “It’s going very well,” says Wiedenmann. The managing director of Allgäu Top Hotels can also imagine that the situation may be different in smaller hotels, where bosses have to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In a new study, the IHK Schwaben examined the management levels of regional companies; two trends are noticeable. While the proportion of women on company management boards was 26 percent in the previous study from 2012, it only climbed one percentage point ten years later. “There is still room for improvement,” says Matthias Köppel, head of the business area location policy at the IHK Swabia. It is also noticeable that especially in accommodation establishments and thus in the southern Allgäu, which is characterized by tourism, the average age of bosses is the highest compared to all other industries.
According to the study, which is based on the figures from 140,000 companies, the average age of bosses in companies has increased from 47.3 years in 2012 to 50.8 years today. Study leader Niklas Gouverneur concludes from this that bosses have to take care of successors at an early stage, as the succession problem will worsen within the next decade as more and more operations managers retire. What works in sectors such as the creative industry in urban regions like Augsburg, namely promoting young company founders, is apparently more complicated in rural regions such as the southern Allgäu.
Gouverneur gives reasons why smaller hotel businesses in particular have succession problems: The return is sometimes lower than in other industries, one must not be an after-work fetishist or prefer regular working hours. Many businesses are also family-run. “There is a lot of emotion involved,” says Governor. In the big hotels, argues Sybille Wiedenmann, there are often operations managers who manage the operative business so that the owners can withdraw. In the accommodation industry in particular, however, it is common for successors to initially work in other companies, often abroad, in order to bring fresh ideas with them. In this respect, it is not surprising when bosses in the industry are older: the young have a further way to the top floor. Above all, the top-run hotels are well networked, says Wiedenmann, which can be seen in the “Next Generation” program alone. That makes the task of finding successors easier.
Networking is a key word that the Chamber of Industry and Commerce also brings into play when it comes to improving the situation. Company owners would therefore have to deal with a possible successor at an early stage. “The age of 50 should be the threshold to worry,” says Governor. Then there would be enough time to find and train successors, which in turn will also benefit future bosses. “This gives you the chance to find a feeling for the right way to handover over the years,” says Matthias Köppel. It is also advisable to give women more opportunities to rise to management positions – the study shows that there is potential here.
The IHK also makes demands on politics, for example to reduce bureaucracy and to reduce and simplify inheritance tax. “Bureaucratic and tax hurdles for company takeovers must be removed,” writes the governor in the study and at the same time calls for the topics of entrepreneurship and the economy to be strengthened in schools in order to lay the foundation for future company successions.
But there are also bosses who find creative solutions when it comes to succession. A hotelier from the Allgäu, for example, has now leased his business because he wants to enjoy his life at the age of 60 and his children are not yet ready to decide whether they want to continue the business. The lease will expire in ten years – until then there will be enough time to arrange the succession.