Tough choices for succession in family businesses

New York

SHARON MADISON was enjoying a successful career in marketing and advertising at Verizon Communications when she took a leave of absence to work for her family's business, United Building Maintenance. She joined her twin brother to help their father, who was ill. When their father died a few years later, she found herself running a company she had little interest in.

Jeffrey Wolf never worked anywhere other than his father's company, which manufactured private-label suits in New York for stores such as Macy's, Jos A Banks Clothiers and Men's Wearhouse. But at the end of 2010, finding it tougher to compete against companies abroad that made suits more cheaply, Mr Wolf's father decided to close the business. It took Mr Wolf more than a year and a half to find a job, at a far lower salary.