APPLICABILITY OF THE“THREE CIRCLE MODEL” IN BRAZILIAN FAMILY BUSINESSES: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This work was developed with a family business that work with load transport, localized in the south of Minas Gerais. This organization is seen as a medium importance within the performance area enabling a big representation in this sector. The objective of this work was to identify the main challenges of each period of changes in the succession process. The business history was told based on the three-circle model which was incorporated a gestation phase, a young family, an entry of inheritor in the family business, work together and passing touch. Although was realized interviewed with the members of each generation of the family (founder father, inheritor sons, grandchildren and with another member of the family) were interviewed and historical documents were analyzed so that the history of the enterprise could be told in five phases, one phase more than the proposed in the original model introduced by Gersick et al. (1997). The phases lived by the enterprise were identified in relation to growth of the business, decision control and family’s participation in the enterprise. The results allowed us to understand how a family business behaves in relation to the generation change and the confirmation of the applicability of the three-circle model, since adapted to the context.