Product details

Lord John Browne, Britain''s most admired Chief Executive, has a long-standing career spanning four decades at BP (British Petroleum). He joined BP in 1966 as a university apprentice and held various key positions before becoming its chief executive officer (CEO) in 1995. BP''s success as the world''s second largest oil company is attributed to the efforts of Browne. The 58 year old CEO is set to retire in 2008 when he turns 60, the retirement age as per the company''s policy. Speculations are rife that he wants to postpone his retirement date but on the other hand, Chairman Sutherland is pressurising Browne to come clean on his retirement plans. Several shareholders are in favour of Browne continuing as the CEO for an extended term, while others want him to make way for new leadership. Amidst this debate, Browne announced that he would want to step down in 2008, which would leave just two years for Browne and BP''s board to select the next successor and groom him for the job. The purpose of this case is to: (1) discuss the leadership style of Browne; (2) analyse the implications of Browne?s retirement for the company; (3) debate the views and counter views on Browne''s retirement; (4) understand the concept of succession planning initiated by Browne; (5) debate on whether executives should be forced to leave because of a long-standing company policy; and (6) debate on corporate governance issues with regard to Browne assuming the role of chairman of the company. A structured assignment ''406-092-4'' is available to accompany this case.