ABSTRACT The issue of succession is one which arouses a host of emotions and has been quoted as a major cause for family business failures. As such, there may be a need for intervention in the form of an impartial third party or some sort of formal planning to regulate the situation. This study is concerned with the presence or lack of formal planning in family businesses within the local context. Four successful family-owned firms, which are at least second-generational, have been picked for the purpose of this study. In all four cases, no formal planning has been employed. Yet, their success is an obvious testimony of their firms' and families' ability to handle the issue of succession. It seems that formal succession planning advocated in many Western literature may not have its rightful place in Singapore. Instead, another force—family culture and values—seems to be more prominent in shaping the perpetuation of these family businesses.