Table 6
Voluntary and Forced CEO Successions by Successor Origin and Board Composition
   

Percentage of Outside Directorsa
   


Origin of the New CEO
 

0.00-
66.67%
 

66.68- 79.99%
 

80.00-100.00%
 

Total

Voluntary Successions:
               

New CEO is promoted from inside the firm
 

279
 

220
 

227
 

726

Percent of voluntary successions
 

88.3%
 

86.6%
 

83.2%
 

86.1%
                 

New CEO is hired from outside the firm
 

37
 

34
 

46
 

117

Percent of voluntary successions
 

11.7%
 

13.4%
 

16.8%
 

13.9%
                 

Total Voluntary Successions
 

316
 

254
 

273
 

843

Percent of Total Successions
 

89.8%
 

85.5%
 

85.3%
 

87.0%
                 

Forced Successions:
               

New CEO is promoted from inside the firm
 

20
 

21
 

15
 

56

Percent of forced successions
 

55.6%
 

48.8%
 

31.9%
 

44.4%
                 

New CEO is hired from outside the firm
 

16
 

22
 

32
 

70

Percent of forced successions
 

44.4%
 

51.2%
 

68.1%
 

55.6%
                 

Total Forced Successions
 

36
 

43
 

47
 

126

Percent of Total Successions
 

10.2%
 

14.5%
 

14.7%
 

13.0%
                 

Total Successions
 

352
 

297
 

320
 

969
                 

Data are for a sample of 969 CEO successions at 588 large public firms between 1970 and 1988.  CEOs who vacate the position prior to age 60 and do not leave for other employment or for health reasons and CEOs reported by the Wall Street Journal to have been forced from their position are classified as having been forced out.  An outside CEO appointment is one in which the new CEO has been employed by the firm for three years or less.  Directors who are not officers of the firm are defined as outside directors.
aThe three columns are approximate divisions of the sample into thirds, based on the percentage of outsiders on the board of directors.  The column totals do not exactly equal one-third of the 969 successions because a relatively large number of firms have the same board composition around the category breaks, and all firms with the same percentages are grouped together.

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