CEO Succession: Making the right choices (UK)
Jonathan Smith, Edward Speed and James M. Citrin
May 2011
Commentators, and indeed boards, are inclined to generalise about the value of bringing in outsiders to succeed the CEO or the benefits of internal succession.
Believing that more evidence-based research was needed, we conducted a detailed study of the CEO transitions occurring within the current list of FTSE 150 companies between 2004 and 2008. In order to give boards proper guidance, we also sought to identify some key principles (based on this evidence) that should underpin any thoughtful and objective leadership succession process.
The results of our UK research contain a number of surprises. Most significantly, they show that a blanket declaration that either insiders or outsiders as a group are the best way forward is no longer sufficient – a more specific approach is needed.