Sweden has Europe's oldest entrepreneurs. 75% of managers in privately owned companies are over 40 years old and as many as 38.4% are of retirement age. Unless someone in the family or external owners take over the business, tens of thousands of companies will close down over the next decade (Företagarna 2009, Nutek 2008). This is a major problem that many have warned about but which is still growing. Most entrepreneurs have families with children who are well acquainted with the business. So the potential for family entrepreneurship should be good. But the share of businesses taken over by the next generation is low. Only 4.6% of today's entrepreneurs have taken over businesses via inheritance (Nutek 2008). A fundamental problem is that there is no systematic research on how and under what conditions entrepreneurs choose to let their family take over, sell to outsiders, or close down the business. Why do so few people take over businesses from previous generations? What do the potential successors do instead? What happens to the individuals and to the companies, and are there differences between the companies that are kept within the family and those that are sold or closed down? Miriam Birdss' thesis analyzes factors of importance for the survival and success of family businesses during generational transitions. A specific focus for Miriam is how family businesses are socially and regionally embedded. The project is based on a unique and comprehensive data set where Statistics Sweden has helped us compile data for all companies, owners and their children over a 20-year period.