During their lifecycle, many small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) experience changes inthe group of owners. New research shows thatsuch changes are likely to give rise to issuesthat might affect the cooperation between theowners and the development of the companyin a negative direction. As SMEs are considered‘the backbone of Scandinavian economy’, suchnegative effects might also have a socio-economicimpact. Therefore, it is important to takeprecautionary measures against the emergenceof these issues as well as establishing appropriatesolutions should they arise nonetheless.The present article commences a new interdisciplinaryresearch project ‘Ownership Dynamicsin SMEs’ carried out by Center for Smalland Medium Sized Enterprises in Denmark andCentre for Family Enterprise and Ownership inSweden. The objective of the project is to generatedeep knowledge on ownership dynamicsin SMEs and on the complexity of the varioustypes of ownership changes. Based on thisknowledge, the three Cs (Control, Consensusand Compromise), that are identified in thearticle, are used as the foundation to developguidelines and tools targeted at the three phasesin ownership changes, which will be madeavailable to SMEs. The project will also analyseif a gap exists between the regulatory need ofSMEs that is identified using qualitative andquantitative studies and the paradigms appliedin practice. Based on the result of this analysis,proposals for gap-filling provisions etc. will bedeveloped.