Modern day corporations can go back to history to get a few tips on succession planning. Sometimes the organization needs a leader who is psychologically removed from past practices, which almost always means an outsider.For long, business organizations, the world over, have faced the issue of succession planning at one time or the other.

However, as the history of modern businesses suggest, most of the companies have been found wanting when the incumbent CEO made an exit. While it is possible that, in some cases, despite having a succession plan in place, a company would be forced to look outside as the heir apparent might not be fit for the job owing to changing needs of the business, or the incumbent made a surprise exit, giving little time to the company to find a suitable replacement. This poses a serious problem to business organizations as lack of leadership could have a damaging impact on the reputation of the firm. Also, it could severely impair its market position. It could result in the loss of market share, migration of valuable customers to rival firms, and low employee moral, etc.

While the problem could be more prominent in the case of family-run businesses, it is not that professionally-run organizations sare immune. While the concept of succession planning has existed for long, the issue has gained prominence only in recent times. In fact, ever since General Motors, the world's largest automaker, ousted its CEO Robert Stempel, it has gained strategic importance on part of businesses across the globe. However, the fact remains that despite business organizations' best efforts to put sound succession plans in place, many firms have seen it go awry.