Âé¶¹ÒùÔº

March 15, 2012

New research reveals chief executive 'churn' as myth

Professor Malcolm Higgs led the research. Credit: University of Southampton
× close
Professor Malcolm Higgs led the research. Credit: University of Southampton

Research into the leadership structure of the UK's largest companies, carried out by the University of Southampton in collaboration with executive search consultants Thorburn McAlister, suggests turnover rates or 'churn' in the position of chief executive are much lower than commonly perceived.

A report funded by Thorburn McAlister and the Southampton Management School examined data from companies in the FTSE-350 index to explore changes in senior executive and board positions over a five year period.

Results show:

Research leader, and Head of the Southampton Management School, Professor Malcolm Higgs comments, "It is accepted wisdom that chief executives are highly vulnerable to being attracted to a higher paying role, ready to leave for a better deal – but our research challenges this.

Get free science updates with Science X Daily and Weekly Newsletters — to customize your preferences!

"Evidence suggests their moving around occurs far less than assumed, with little movement from one chief exec position to another. In these financially turbulent times, with pay and bonuses in the spotlight, we should ask ourselves if high levels of remuneration are really keeping people in post, or if the impetus to move isn't as strong as perceived."

Professor Higgs continues, "Furthermore, the large number of current chief execs in the baby-boomer generation, and comparatively low numbers in generation-X, raises the question of whether we can maintain our chief exec talent? Do we have a talent gap? Or are we better at nurturing talent internally in companies than we have tended to think?"

Researchers used the HemScott Company database on UK-domiciled and publicly traded stocks (now Morningstar Company Intelligence) to gather company data and details of directorships. Where necessary, this was supplemented and verified with analysis from company websites and archived data.

Director at Thorburn McAlister, Anthony McAlister, comments, "This review will help inform organisations and develop better talent management practices. Year on year it will build into an outstanding resource for FTSE 350 stakeholders."

The information in the report was taken as a snapshot view on 1 August 2011. In addition to information on chief executives, the research also examined data on chairmen, financial directors and board positions in the FTSE-350.

Load comments (0)

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's and . have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Get Instant Summarized Text (GIST)

This summary was automatically generated using LLM.