急流勇退: 全球大企业掌门"有序禅位"

Planned turnover of chief executives at the world’s biggest companies has reached its highest level this century, as they respond to pressure from shareholders to behave professionally when it comes to filling the top jobs.

全球各大企业按计划更换首席执行官的比例达到本世纪最高水平，这些企业对股东要求专业化任命最高层人员的压力作出回应。

Among the world’s 2,500 largest groups by market value, 270 replaced their chief executive in 2012 as a result of succession planning, according to research by Booz and Company.

博斯公司(Booz and Company)的研究表明，2012年世界上市值最高的2500家集团中，有270家按照继任计划更换了首席执行官。

This organised turnover contributed to an overall total of 375 changes of chief executive in the year, the second highest since the study began in 2000, behind only the result in 2005.

这些有序的交接班导致全年总共出现375次CEO换人。这是自2000年这一研究开始以来的第二高水平，仅次于2005年。

The move towards more succession planning also appears to have favoured the chances of external over internal candidates. Three in 10 new chief executives appointed in 2012 were outsiders, against two in 10 over the previous three years, the consultancy said.

转向继任规划的趋势，似乎也提高了外部候选人相对于内部候选人的中选概率。博斯公司表示，2012年每10位新任CEO中，就有3位来自外部，而之前三年每10人中只有2位来自外部。

In July Marissa Mayer, a long-serving Google executive, became Yahoo’s boss, as the struggling web portal managed a smooth transition at the top after a series of boardroom mishaps.

去年7月，在谷歌(Google)服务多年的主管梅里莎•梅尔(Marissa Mayer)成了雅虎(Yahoo)的老板，当时这家挣扎中的门户网站在董事会发生一系列失误后，顺利完成了权力交接。

In August Pascal Soriot, vet-turned-Roche executive, was named the new boss at AstraZeneca, even though the pharmaceutical group had an obvious internal candidate in Simon Louth, chief financial officer and interim chief executive.

去年8月份，兽医出身的罗氏(Roche)高管帕斯卡尔•索略特(Pascal Soriot)被任命为阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)的新任首席执行官，尽管这家制药集团拥有一位明显的内部候选人——首席财务官及代理CEO西蒙•劳斯(Simon Louth)。

And in December, Jean-Bernard Lévy was appointed chief executive of Thales, Europe’s biggest defence electronics manufacturer by sales, only six months after leaving the same role at French media group Vivendi.

而去年12月份，让-贝尔纳•莱维(Jean-Bernard Lévy)从法国媒体集团威望迪(Vivendi)卸任CEO 6个月后，被欧洲销售额最高的军用电子系统制造商泰雷兹集团(Thales)任命为CEO。

Per-Ola Karlsson, Booz senior partner and co-author of the study, suggested that outside contenders often benefited as companies adopted a more structured approach to appointments. “Diligence from boards means that they will always look at outside candidates even if there is a strong internal pool of contenders, driving greater opportunities for outsiders.”

博斯公司高级合伙人、该研究报告的共同作者佩尔-奥拉•卡尔松(Per-Ola Karlsson)提出，若企业的任命过程更加结构化，外部竞争者往往会受益。“董事会的尽职调查意味着，就算公司内部有一大把实力雄厚的竞争者，董事会也始终会关注公司外部的候选人，这令外部人士中选的机遇加大。”

The last time there was a changing of the guard at the world’s 2,500 largest companies on a scale similar to last year’s, it was well before the financial crisis and the total was boosted by a contribution from M and A well above the 36 transaction-related changes of 2012 – the lowest number for almost a decade.

世界上最大的2500家公司上一次发生与去年规模类似的换帅潮是在金融危机之前很久，其总数因为并购而大幅提高。相比之下，2012年并购交易导致的主帅更迭只有36例，是近10年来最少的。

But last year it was the rise in succession planning that led to the second-highest level of turnover since the start of the century, when Booz and Company began tracking chief executive moves in this way.

导致去年出现本世纪初（博斯公司从那时开始以这种方式追踪首席执行官更迭）以来第二高换帅潮的原因是，越来越多的公司进行继任规划。

Gary Neilson, a Booz senior partner and one of the report’s authors, identified two key factors behind the shift towards planning.
博斯公司高级合伙人、该报告作者之一加里•尼尔森(Gary Neilson)发现，企业转向继任规划的背后有两个关键因素。
The first was that shareholders expected the companies to be more organised in succession planning and that they also faced demands from the community at large to be accountable.
首先是股东们希望企业在继任规划方面更有章法，企业还面临社会对于问责的要求。
“The demand for more accountability is encouraging boards to take on this responsibility for the chief executive, rather than just backing a chief executive until he hits a wall,” Mr Neilson said.
尼尔森表示：“加强问责的要求，正鼓励董事会承担起自己对CEO的责任，而不是一味力挺CEO，直到情况不可收拾。”
The second was that as companies came through the worst of the economic downturn, they felt secure enough to move decisively to put the next generation of leaders in place, instead of postponing action.
其次，随着企业渡过经济低迷的最黑暗阶段，他们感到足够安全，敢于采取果断行动，任命新一代领导，而不是迟疑不决。
The study also revealed a significant preference for financial services executives. Booz said that the greater success of outsiders pointed to companies’ feeling confident enough to take “a bit of a risk on an unknown leader”.
这项研究还显示出在人选方面，金融服务业的高管受到显著青睐。博斯公司表示，公司任命外部候选人的几率加大表明，企业如今感到足够自信，愿意承担“一点聘用未知领导的风险”。
That risk is often mitigated by a decision to appoint from within the same sector. This was most marked in financial services, where more than four in five were from within the sector, but was also marked in IT, where more than three in five came from the same sector. By contrast, seven in 10 new appointments at utilities were from outside the sector.
任命一位来自同一行业的领导者往往可以降低这种风险。这一点在金融服务行业中表现得最为突出，该行业中逾五分之四的新CEO来自本行业，在IT行业也很突出，该行业中来自同行业公司的新CEO占了逾五分之三。相比之下，公用事业行业有十分之七的新任CEO来自本行业以外。
Financial services was the only sector to supply new chief executives to all other industries, providing one-third of incoming CEOs for industrial companies.
金融服务业是唯一向其他所有行业输出新任CEO的行业，工业企业的新任CEO有三分之一来自金融服务业。
Booz said that one factor behind the rise in popularity of financial services executives was simply their presence in such a large and important sector.
博斯公司表示，金融服务业高管越来越受欢迎背后的一个原因是，他们来自如此庞大而重要的行业。
Financial services accounted for one-fifth of the 2,500 largest companies, making it the most heavily-represented sector, ahead of industrials at 357.
金融服务业公司占总共2500家最大企业的五分之一，超过工业企业（357家），这使得金融服务业成为最具代表性的行业。
What makes the level of chief executive turnover of all kinds last year so striking is that the only year which in which it was higher – 2005 – came after some years of low turnover rates during the downturn of the early 2000s, suggesting a pent-up need for change at the top that does not seem to have been such a feature this time.
有关去年CEO换人数量的令人瞩目之处在于，2005年（唯一数量更高的一年）是在本世纪初经济下行期间的低换人率之后，似乎表明当时存在被压抑的高层换人需求，而这一次似乎不存在这种情况。
And the rate of change could rise even higher in the next couple of years, Booz said, if the improved corporate governance practices and answerability to shareholders that has fuelled the increase in 2012 is accompanied by an uptick in M and A activity.
博斯公司表示，今后两年，如果刺激2012年高层换人的因素（各公司治理水平提升，对股东诉求的响应）继续存在，再加上并购活动的增加，高层换人的数量可能进一步上升。