Abstract
Due to population aging and declining birth rates, many Japanese firms face significant challenges in business succession. One important issue is how a firm’s philosophy can be sustained across generations. This study examines a Japanese family firm in the food service industry that recently completed leadership succession. The firm is characterized by an HRM system that regards employees as the foundation of the business. Before succession, elements of the founder’s philosophy had already been embodied in the firm’s human resource management (HRM) practices. Following succession, the second-generation leader not only preserved these practices but also selectively strengthened and reframed them to better align with the values of a younger workforce. This case demonstrates how HRM can support generational imprinting, enabling both continuity and value-based adaptation in the immediate post-succession period.