"Succession planning at most companies is a hollow exercise, " says DavidLarcker, an expert on the topic who teaches at Stanford University's business school.
The actual risk of any out-of-pocket settlement by a director is quite low says Stanford University Professor DavidLarcker, author of Corporate Governance Matters.
DavidLarcker and Anastasia Zakolyukina of Stanford's Graduate School of Business analysed the transcripts of nearly 30, 000 conference calls by American chief executives and chief financial officers between 2003 and 2007.