Planning Executive Succession: The Effect of Recruitment Source and Organizational Problems on Anticipated Tenure.

This study examines the anticipated tenure of the chief executive officer (CEO) from the incumbent's point of view. An analysis of approximately 1500 questionnaires returned by corporate presidents reveals that anticipated tenure is generally little affected by whether the CEO is recruited from within or from outside the organization. However, under conditions of formalized succession planning and when confronted with specific problems, such as modernizing operations, mandates to increase sales, and merger operations, there exist differences in anticipated tenure between inside and outside recruited CEOs. These differences are discussed in terms of their implications to corporate level succession planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]