Are Indian CEOs pampered?

This article questions whether Indian CEOs enjoy more stability and longer tenures than their U.S. counterparts and whether this impacts company performance.

Infographic to highlight main key insights on CEO

Two articles that I came across, a few days apart, set me thinking on whether Indian CEOs are pampered.

The first article  talks about how very few firms survive the ‘4 failed CEO’ challenge. On a related vein, another article in Fortune article beautifully tracks the very similar points that Intel and Microsoft were at in 2000 but the different trajectories since then, thanks to very different CEO choices.

Following the recent CEO shuffle at Starbucks, I came across another article at NDTV Profit that had 3 interesting insights –

  1. 191 companies had CEO changes in Russell 3000 i.e.,  about 6.4% of the companies have had a CEO change
  2. Of these, an estimated 40% were forced out
  3. The rate at which CEOs were changed has consistently been increasing since 2017, and is today almost 3x of what it was in 2017

CEO role in US is anything but stable.

On the contrary, our own recent study of Indian CEOs, published recently, show that Indian CEOs enjoy long tenures (9.3y on average) and more stable career.

And, interestingly, key company performance metrics (Revenue CAGR, PAT CAGR, Mcap CAGR) do not seem to be impacted by the longevity of CEO tenure. If a long-serving CEO is not delivering substantially more than a relatively short-lived CEO, why are Indian CEOs allowed to continue for long periods?

Which set me thinking, are Indian CEOs being treated more kindly, as compared to the CEOs in US?

If so, is it better for India Inc to continue with longer tenures for Indian CEOs or would we be better off with a tighter review of CEO performance?

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Anu graduated from DU and subsequently completed her full-time MBA from IMI. Post her MBA, she worked in sales in the BFSI space, with ICICI Lombard, Principal Asset Management, DSP Blackrock and Edelweiss, across bancassurance, and institutional sales. Later, she worked in the start-up space, while pursuing and completing the Master's in Business Law from National Law School. At Resource Bridge, Anu is a Sr Associate in the CEO Practice and has worked closely with Ram on key mandates.


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Ram is currently the Leader for the CEO Practice and also the Managing Partner of the firm. Ram is an Engineer-turned (BE Mechanical, MS Industrial) MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and brings with him 7 years in corporate, 14 years in top-tier consulting and 10 years in executive search. He was last the leader for Life-sciences at Monitor Group and prior to that, headed IMS Consulting and AT Kearney, starting his career with Ashok Leyland. Brings extensive experience in automotive and healthcare/life-sciences space.


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Dhanlaxmi is a CA and ICWA from Mumbai, and brings with her extensive experience as a practicing chartered accountant, serving clients across industries. Alongside, she also served as a visiting faculty in several institutions. At Resource Bridge, Dhana is an Consultant in the CFO Practice, where she has worked with Saroja on several of the key CFO mandates.


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Saroja is a merit-ranking ICWA and is the Lead for the CFO Practice. Coming from an industrial family, she initally worked in the family business focused on automotive forgings. Later, she set up Resource Bridge along with Ram and grew it from infancy. Just over the last few years, she has led 40+ CFO engagements for a variety of clients, and has one of the best networks within the CFO Community, not only in India but outside too. She brings extensive experience in Retail, FMCG and Manufacturing sector.


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Rachana is an MBA with prior work experience at Reliance Industries for 8 years. In her last role at Reliance, Rachana was the Product Manager for the  $55M Benzene and Xylene portfolio, with responsibility over sales, commercial and client management. Later she was at Sizer Metals, a base metal trading firm, working on hedging, supply chain and account management. At Resource Bridge, she is a Sr Associate in the CFO Practice and has worked with Saroja, the CFO Practice Lead, in delivering key mandates.


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Mona leads the BD & New Client Engagement function at Resource Bridge and is responsible for all client development activities for the firm. She comes from a marketing and brand promotions background, having worked in the marketing function at Matsushita. Mona has done her full-time MBA.


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