The Future of SME Sellers: A Typology According to Reinvestment Strategies

This article investigates the future of SME sellers. It builds upon the rare work on entrepreneurial exit (by selling to an outsider). Based on the theoretical concept of end-of-career feelings, defined as the acceptance of life changes (Marbot 2006), and on a re-examination of secondary data from fifty-seven life stories of French sellers, our results show above all that end-of-career feelings genuinely affect these entrepreneurs/small business owners. They also reveal four types of sellers with different reinvestment strategies and recovery levers. We propose a fifth risk profile in addition to the typology. Finally, we discuss the emergence, evolution, or possible absence of reinvestment strategies.