Saxonian manufacturers face a wide range of challenges. Defending the competitive position against other craftsmen from home and from Eastern European countries is difficult. In addition, many companies are facing a generational change in the coming years. The topic of generational change is becoming even more explosive given the emerging demographic developments. The Dresden branch of the ifo Institute for Economic Research prepared a study on behalf of the Saxonian State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor on the problem of company successions in Saxony. This article summarizes the main results specifically on Saxonian craft companies, which were also published in Sächsischer Mittelstandsbericht 2005/2006.