In 2009 nearly half of survey participants said their companies had no formal CEO succession plans in place.
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While Apple did not immediately respond to questions about the company's succession plans, it almost certainly has one.
The company characterized the departure Tuesday as a retirement, though retirements rarely go into effect immediately and without concrete succession plans.
Adding to the imbalance, at most companies "top management has failed to insist that all succession plans include qualified women, " says Ms. Spence.
Employees trying to advance in their careers are finding it more challenging because the succession plans are unclear and in many cases fabricated.
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With half or more public companies lacking any formal succession plans, business continuity and talent retention are significant risks that hide in plain sight.
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Regarding succession, Ford Motor Co. takes succession planning very seriously, and we have succession plans in place for each of our key leadership positions.
But they also clarified succession plans for the executive suite, naming his lieutenant Mark Fields COO, which puts him in line to replace Mulally down the road .
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In between all the plotting and back-stabbing, the characters blunder into a broad array of financial- and estate-planning disasters, from bad investments and messy trusts to poor business-succession plans and power struggles following health crises.
Prior to the changed economy, there were a number of small and medium- sized family-owned businesses who adopted succession plans whereby they allowed for outside investment into the business, sometimes selling all or half of their shares to investors.
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Among companies with succession plans, those that underperformed the market saw their share price fall an average 4% below the index, compared with a downside of 7% and 13%, respectively, for unexpected resignations and crisis-related transitions, such as fraud and restructuring.
For example, in their book Changing Places: Making a Success of Succession Planning for Entrepreneurs and Family Business Owners, David Franzetta and co-author Moss Jackson provide a path for business owners to develop and execute their own customized succession plans to secure the future for themselves, their families and their employees.
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Meanwhile Downing St confirms that it has discussed plans to change the rule of succession with Buckingham Palace.
The meeting follows confirmation last month that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Buckingham Palace have discussed plans to change the rules of succession to the throne.
In response to a question from the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell, Mr Cameron told MPs that "all issues" surrounding plans to change the law of succession to the Throne had been agreed with Buckingham Palace.
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