What is Wrong With CEO Succession?

Situation

Often, a body of work can tell more about an organisation than any one particular instance. Such is the case of the relationship between RHR International and Reckitt Benckiser.

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is a world leader in household, health and personal care. Three well executed acquisitions have played a major part in its successful expansion. Starting in 1999 with Benckiser's merger with Reckitt & Coleman, management turned to RHR International to define and execute its pre-acquisition management due diligence process. In that year, RHR assessed nearly 300 executives as part of the merger and restructuring that created the company in its modern form.

In 2005, RHR also delivered the management due diligence that brought Boots Healthcare International into the business and added new powerbrands to the portfolio. Again, in 2010 RHR consultants were asked to lead the assessment and integration of the manage- ment resources of SSL International into a further expanded RB.

Situation

When an $8 billion consumer products company sought to improve its cross-matrix business practices, it discovered that it also needed to develop its leadership talent. The HR organization, tasked with effective succession planning, asked RHR to create a development program for the company’s next generation of leaders. Management’s ability to identify high-potential people and find them crucial stretch assignments had been hampered by a siloed organizational structure. The Client needed a reliable and consistent process for looking across the company to find and develop its high potential talent.

Situation

A global leader in food and facility management services found that the turnover rate for external hires in their executive ranks was over 25%. The expense created by a constant cycle of recruiting, training and replacing was proving costly, not to mention the loss in productivity while a stream of managers worked their way through the system. The company turned to RHR International to create a process which would facilitate the integration of executives into the corporate culture and improve the retention rate.

Situation

A major Canadian Private Equity firm was considering the purchase of a large residential and commercial heating oil distributor. The plan was to enlarge operations through a number of acquisitions. The PE firm knew the management team was doing a good job of running the company at its current size, but didn’t know if it could handle the expansion. The PE firm asked RHR International to evaluate the capabilities of the target management leadership, make recommendations on how they could improve as individuals and a team, and identify organizational issues which might affect future profitability.