Deciding to Stop

The section deals with basic reasons for stopping business - retirement, voluntary closure and bankruptcy. It also outlines possibilities how to rescue and handle some of theabove mentioned problems.

An entrepreneur may decide to stop doing business for a number of different reasons:

• retirement – transferring ownership is complex and must be planned well in advance of retirement but, if the company has an established market presence, the owner should consider handing it on, as it preserves all of the company''s achievements, especially skills and jobs
• voluntary closure – entrepreneurs simply decide to close down their business and therefore, they have to follow relevant national procedures
• bankruptcy – sometimes businesses are forced to stop trading. It may be because they are unable to adapt to the continuous changes that are a part and a parcel of a business life – increased global competition, new products on the market, new technologies – or because of unforeseen events, such as a failure of a major customer.

To minimise losses for all concerned, an early action is vital – either by planning a rescue strategy or deciding to liquidate.

Bankruptcy need not put honest entrepreneurs off starting afresh. Many restarters learn from their mistakes and their new businesses often prove to be more successful than others.

Document created in co-operation between Your Europe - Business (EU portal for companies) and BusinessInfo.cz.