Narongsak (Tek) Thongpapanl, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, and Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation at Brock University; Eugene Kaciak, Professor of Business at Brock University; Izabela Koladkiewicz, Associate Professor of Business at Kozminski University; and Marta Wojtyra, Business Lecturer at Kozminski University, recently had a piece published in The Conversation about the critical role social networks play in helping an entrepreneur decide how to exit from a business.

They write:

“Every year around the world, entrepreneurs sell or cut ties to their businesses, including in countries known as being optimal for entrepreneurship, like Germany, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Canada.

But the majority of these entrepreneurs don’t have an exit strategy and therefore lack a full understanding of what’s involved in leaving their companies.

An entrepreneurial exit entails cutting ownership ties and managerial function in a company. Among the possible reasons are:

1. The health and age of entrepreneurs.
2. The shifting of their work-life balance. 
3. Exhaustion and boredom with routine.
4. The emergence of another lucrative and rewarding opportunity.
5. The inability to cope with market turbulence and to mitigate against market uncertainty.
6. The incapability to manage ongoing financial problems, as well as to deal with unavoidable financial problems that surface during crises, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
7. Business exit by bankruptcy.” 

 Continue reading the full article here.