As our economy continues to stage its slow but inexorable recovery, industry analysts are coming to the conclusion that performance metrics have been raised to a new level for all job categories-including those comprising C-level decision makers.

Indeed, record numbers of chief executives were forced to resign last year, marking a world wide trend in desk cleaning for leaders who fell from favor with their corporate boards.

According to a recent study compiled by Booz Allen Hamilton, a management and technology consulting firm, the linkages between CEO tenure and corporate performance is clear. The paper, entitled "CEO Succession 2002: Deliver or Depart," was released late last month.

Among the findings:

• Involuntary successions in 2002 increased by more than 70 percent over 2001, even though the total number of CEO changes only increased by 10 percent. Of all CEO departures globally in 2002, 39 percent were forced, performance-based changes, compared to 25 percent in 2001.

• Regionally, the biggest change occurred in the Asia/Pacific region, which accounted for nearly one of every five (19 percent) global succession events, compared with 8 percent in 2001 and 6 percent in 2000. Forced turnover in Asia accounted for 45 percent of all transitions there, up from only 6 percent in 2001.

• North America accounted for 48 percent of all successions worldwide in 2002, significantly lower than the 64 percent it accounted for in 2001.

• In Europe, the rate of CEO changes has increased in each of the five years the study examined since 1995. In 2002, 28 percent of all CEO successions occurred in Europe.

• CEOs grew a bit grayer last year. The mean age of chief executives leaving office in 2002 was 58.1 years, up slightly from 2000 (56.8 years) and 2001 (57.1 years).

The news harmonizes with the findings of other prestigious management consulting firms, including PRTM. Grahm Collins, a partner who specializes in corporate management, tells WORLD TRADE that the manufacturing landscape has never been more volatile.

"This is a period of constant upheaval and change," he says. "It's exciting, but also requires caution...and intelligence."

Collins joins our editorial advisory board this month, along with several other new members who have agreed to assist us in generating content and helping us adhere to our editorial mission. They will be called upon to provide intelligence and distanced analysis so that we may keep our readers ahead of the curve, anticipating change armed with strategies to confront and conquer.

Best regards,

Patrick Burnson, Editor in Chief
PatrickB@worldtrademag.com