Abstract
In this paper, we set out to investigate whether strategic leadership matters at a moment in the life cycle of the firm when a change is made in the top leadership. By far, most of the conceptual and empirical literature on the consequences of CEO succession involves United States companies. Therefore, in this paper, we set out to investigate the impact of CEO succession on strategic and organizational changes in Japanese companies. The empirical study consisted of a matched control group design involving 81 Japanese companies experiencing a CEO succession event and 81 companies with continuity of their CEO leadership. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. Overall CEO succession was not associated with radical strategic and organization changes. Japanese companies did engage in evolutionary organization and strategic adaptations during the five year period of the study but independent of CEO succession. The governance structure moderates organization changes (independent of CEO succession) in particular when the firm was affiliated with a main bank and the firm was experiencing severe financial pressure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 654-671 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Organization Science |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - 1999 Sep |
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Keywords
- Ceo succession
- Coevolution
- Governance structure
- Organization restructurings
- Strategy changes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Management of Technology and Innovation
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Strategy and Management
Cite this
Impact of CEO Succession in Japanese Companies : A Coevolutionary Perspective. / Sakano, Tomoaki; Lewin, Arie Y.
In: Organization Science, Vol. 10, No. 5, 09.1999, p. 654-671.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of CEO Succession in Japanese Companies
T2 - A Coevolutionary Perspective
AU - Sakano, Tomoaki
AU - Lewin, Arie Y.
PY - 1999/9
Y1 - 1999/9
N2 - In this paper, we set out to investigate whether strategic leadership matters at a moment in the life cycle of the firm when a change is made in the top leadership. By far, most of the conceptual and empirical literature on the consequences of CEO succession involves United States companies. Therefore, in this paper, we set out to investigate the impact of CEO succession on strategic and organizational changes in Japanese companies. The empirical study consisted of a matched control group design involving 81 Japanese companies experiencing a CEO succession event and 81 companies with continuity of their CEO leadership. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. Overall CEO succession was not associated with radical strategic and organization changes. Japanese companies did engage in evolutionary organization and strategic adaptations during the five year period of the study but independent of CEO succession. The governance structure moderates organization changes (independent of CEO succession) in particular when the firm was affiliated with a main bank and the firm was experiencing severe financial pressure.
AB - In this paper, we set out to investigate whether strategic leadership matters at a moment in the life cycle of the firm when a change is made in the top leadership. By far, most of the conceptual and empirical literature on the consequences of CEO succession involves United States companies. Therefore, in this paper, we set out to investigate the impact of CEO succession on strategic and organizational changes in Japanese companies. The empirical study consisted of a matched control group design involving 81 Japanese companies experiencing a CEO succession event and 81 companies with continuity of their CEO leadership. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. Overall CEO succession was not associated with radical strategic and organization changes. Japanese companies did engage in evolutionary organization and strategic adaptations during the five year period of the study but independent of CEO succession. The governance structure moderates organization changes (independent of CEO succession) in particular when the firm was affiliated with a main bank and the firm was experiencing severe financial pressure.
KW - Ceo succession
KW - Coevolution
KW - Governance structure
KW - Organization restructurings
KW - Strategy changes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033262001&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0033262001&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033262001
VL - 10
SP - 654
EP - 671
JO - Organization Science
JF - Organization Science
SN - 1047-7039
IS - 5
ER -