A Case Study of the Perception of Succession by Audiologists in Private Practice

• Main Author: Bordenave, Elton
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Business administration; Health care management; Management
• ISBN: 9781369861037; 1369861036

This study explored the perceptions of audiologists in private practice about business succession. Business succession entails the transfer of control over the management and assets of a firm. In general, only about a third of small to medium size enterprises survive to a second generation. Succession in the healthcare sector of the economy is not widely understood outside the areas of nursing and hospital executives. Audiology is a young profession and this is the first generational transfer to occur since the profession embraced a private practice model. With research on succession in healthcare limited to nursing and hospital executives, the problem is that there is no understanding of how audiologists in private practice perceive business succession. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover how audiologists in private practice perceive the issue of business succession. The sample population was recruited and purposefully selected from the membership of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology and the broader population of audiologists in private practice. Participants were age 45 or older and owned an audiology private practice in the United States. The emerging themes indicated that participants held a non-holistic view of succession that consisted of a set of activities that occur over several years, directed at the sale of the practice. Finding a successor, practice valuation and ownership transfer were activities that supported the themes drawn from the data. Time was also a theme. These findings form the basis for study’s recommendation that audiologists in private practice prepare for succession by creating a succession plan that holistically encompasses successor identification, training, transfer of authority and financing. Two recommendation for additional research are presented, investigating how audiologists understand the value of their practices and exploring what elements of succession are important for audiologists to include in their succession plans.