BENCHMARKING OF

SUCCESSION PLANNING
PRACTICES

Misha Aima

14 - MBA - 05
 GlaxoSmithKline
Consumer Health Care
 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and its subsidiary and associated
undertakings, constitute a global healthcare group engaged in the
creation, discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of
pharmaceutical and consumer health-related products.
 GSK operates principally in two industry segments: Pharmaceuticals
(prescription pharmaceuticals and vaccines), and Consumer
Healthcare (over-the-counter medicines, oral care and nutritional
healthcare).
 The major markets for the Company’s products are the USA,
France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, India, Germany and
Spain.
 GSK has a portfolio of products, ranging from tablets and health
drinks to inhalers and complex capsules, in over 28,000 different
pack sizes and presentations.
 In India, it is the Number One Pharmaceutical company with a
market share of 5.9 per cent. GSK has four manufacturing units in
India, located at Thane, Nashik, Mysore and Bangalore and offices
in various cities like Gurgaon, Nabha and Hyderabad.
 Aim of the Project:-

This project aimed at understanding the Succession

Planning process established in various companies,
across different sectors (FMCG, IT, Service sector)
though Benchmarking.
This was done with the help of a questionnaire that
was circulated among the HR departments of the
participating companies.
The responses to these questionnaires provided
insights for our analysis.
 Training Programme:-

Devising the questionnaire.

Data collection from the Benchmarked
companies.
Findings and analysis.
Suggestions/ Recommendations.
Project presentation.
 Devising the questionnaire.
The process consisted of understanding the Succession
Planning process and its relevance so as to determine the
parameters on which the questionnaire was developed.

Succession Planning:-

A deliberate and systematic effort to :

 project leadership requirements.
 identify a pool of high potential candidates.
 develop leadership competencies in those candidates through
intentional learning experiences, and then
 select leaders from among the pool of potential leaders.
 Finally… evaluate success
 Identify Leadership Requirements:-
Competencies
 Create profiles for leadership jobs (e.g., Division Director and
Assistant Division Director)
 Create profiles for managers (e.g., frontline and middle
managers)
Results
 Objective measures:
E.g., work group results, production, customer satisfaction,
innovations, turnover, competency levels, EE satisfaction
 Subjective measures:
E.g., rating of total contribution to achieving agency goals,
customer satisfaction, process improvement, improved team
capacity
 Account for complexity and scope of impact
 Identifying pool of High Potential:-

Future work potential is based on :

Accumulated skills.
Experience as evidenced by past achievement.
Ability to learn new skills.
Willingness to tackle bigger, more complex or higher
quality assignments.
Develop leadership competencies:-
Send member of pool through structured development
activities .
Targeted to close individual gaps.
Develop for job levels not specific jobs.
Done Through:-
 Skill Building Classes
 Coaching
 Mentoring
 Education
 Developmental Experiences
 Short Term Assignments
 Action Learning
 How is it done?
On-the-job
experiences,
Off-the-job learning
(community challenging job
involvement, industry assignments
associations, etc. 55-65%

10-15%

10-15% 10-15%
Training and Relationships and
executive education feedback from on the
job (bosses, peers,
subordinates, mentors,
multi-rater assessments
 Selection of leaders:-
Matching people to jobs based on competency profile fit for
the specified positions.
Evaluation:-
Collect, analyze, and interpret data on effectiveness of
communications and succession development.
1. One or more well-qualified internal candidates are
prepared and ready to assume each key job (i.e., ready list)
2. A record of successful promotions (or lateral placements);
few people fail
3. Few superior performers leave the organization because
of ‘lack of opportunity’
Why Succession Planning:-

Real or feared shortage of future leaders.

Retaining highly skilled talent.
Growing number of retirement-ready personnel.
Shifting skill requirements.
Making the next employee force a smarter one.
Lack of employee-agency alignment.
Inconsistent execution.
Data collection from the Benchmarked
companies.
Benchmarking:-
Benchmarking is the process of determining who is the
very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard
is. It is a continuous, systematic process of evaluating and
comparing the capability of one organization with others
normally recognized as industry leaders, for insights for
optimizing the organizations process.
In our project, we have taken a combination of
Functional and Generic benchmarking in which we have
compared practices related to “Succession planning”
across various companies and sectors.
 Company Profiles:-

1. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health Care

- Pharmaceutical, biological and Health care company .
2. Coca Cola
-The company is a cola giant .
3. PepsiCo / Frito Lay
- The company is in the FMCG sector.
4. Perfetti Van Melle
- The company is a confectionary manufacturer.
5. Ranbaxy
- The company is a pharmaceutical major.
6. VLCC
- Institute of Beauty, Health and Management.
7. Canon
- World leader in imaging products and solutions for the digital
home and office.

8. Wipro
- IT bigwig.

9. Vardhman Group
- Company is a major integrated textile producer in India.
 Findings/ Analysis.
The findings and analysis has been divided into two section
i.e. the process of succession plan which tries to elaborate
on what are the various technicalities which constitute the
plan .The other area about which we talk is developing
future leaders. This mainly deals with the identification and
the development of key potentials across companies, which
infact is the very essence of any succession plan.

PROCESS:-
The questionnaire consists of question related to the
process which goes into a succession plan. It is divided
across following parameters:
 Tools used:
The following graph represents the combined results of the questions
related to the kinds of succession planning tools in use

Which tools are used?

succession plan forms
As is clear from the graph the most favored form of a formal succession
plan is the succession planning form as opposed to adev
leadership leadership
elopment path
plan
template, which is14%
least in use. 29% leadership path
tempelates
19%
succession planning
guidelines
14% member profile
14% 10%

evaluation form
 What are the various policies that are
included in succession plan?
This question deals with the fact that how succession planning is a part
of your everyday business practices.
various practices

recruiting & training

32% 24% compensation

client transition

10% retirement

29% developing future

5% leaders

As is depicted in the pie chart majority of the companies have

documentation in their succession plan about the ways and means in
which they will develop leaders.
This graph points towards the depth of your succession plan. Wipro
comes out as the company, which incorporates all the above
mentioned areas in its plan where as GSK only stresses on developing
leaders.

What all does your succession plan consider?

100%
developing future
90%
policies included in

leaders
80%
succession plan

retirement
70%
60% client transition
50%
40% compensation
30%
20% recruiting & training
10%
0%
Ranbaxy

Vardhman
FritoLay

C anon
Glaxo

Perfetti

Wipro
VLC C
C oke
What criteria are used for succession Planning?
The following graphs depict what are the various criteria that go into
deciding on what is your succession plan based upon.
FACTORS:

Critical
Competencies
6%
Key Experieces
38%
34%
Results

Potential

22%

As is seen from the figure most of the companies base their succession
plan upon the critical competencies of their key talent.
The figure shows the combined result of the levels of various criteria
used in the succession plan. Here is in exception of GSK where
potential is an essential consideration in mapping talent.

what governs your succession plan?

100% Potential
90%
80% Results
70%
60%
factors

50% Key
Experieces
40%
30%
Critical
20% Competencies
10%
0%
Ranbaxy
Glaxo

Canon
Coke

Wipro
VLCC
FritoLay

Perfetti

Vardhman
 Time Horizon:
As per this question we wanted to find out as to how much into future
are the companies looking for their talent needs. Thus the questions
were targeted towards the time horizons i.e., immediate (0-2 yrs),
medium (3-5 yrs) or long range (5-10 yrs) talent requirement of the
company.
GSK 0-2, 3-5 yrs
COKE 0-2, 3-5 yrs
FRITO LAY 3-5 yrs
PREFETTI NA
RANBAXY 3-5 yrs
VLCC 3-5 yrs
CANON 0-2 yrs
WIPRO 2-3, 3-5 yrs
VARDHMAN 3-5 yrs

The table shows that most of the companies do not invest their efforts
into long-range talent development. Their main stress is to cater to
medium range talent need.
 Pitfalls:
The following section tells us about the various hindrances and blocks,
faced by companies, which hold them back from getting to a “sound”
succession plan.

PITFALLS :
Management unwilling to
commit to long term planning
10% Lack of formal written plan
18%
Plan is too rigid inflexible or
20% complex
10% Perception of costs involved

9% Breakdown in support for the

program
17%
16% Too long a wait for real
movement
Selection of unqualified or
unmotivated people
The graph below is a depiction of the level of pitfalls to an effective
succession plan in the companies. GSK here is a clear winner with no
such pitfalls.

How effective is your succession plan?

25

20

15
pitfalls

10

0 Ranbaxy

Canon
Frito Lay
Glaxo

Vardhman
Perfetti

Wipro
Coke

VLCC
DEVELOPING LEADERS:-
The next set of questions deals with the insights into how
are “leaders” actually identified, nurtured and developed by
adopting a succession plan.
What are the types of development considerations in
your succession planning process?
In this segment we wanted to have an insight into which of the following
considerations are used by companies in the developmental phase of their
succession plan;
 Role – based (Programs focus on key positions that are difficult to
fill or critical.)
 Individual – based (Programs focus on particular people with
potential for advancement.)
 Pool – based (Programs focus on a number of high -potential
members who could move into any of several different leadership
positions within the organization.)
An interpretation of the question shows that companies like GSK and
Canon have individual development plans whereas Coke has a more
stratified development program and lays stress on all the above
considerations .

100%
90% Pool Based
80%
development consideration

70% Individual
60% Based

50% Role Based

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Glaxo

Canon
Ranbaxy
Coke

Wipro
VLCC
FritoLay

Perfetti

Vardhman
What is the “competency mix” for evaluating key talent?
key competencies for talent evaluation :-

Potential 5
Business Acume n 35
Vision 35
Technic al Competency 33
Develo ping others 29
Building Bonds/Relationships 26
Change Catajys t 30
Impact and Influence 24
Commu nication 28
Conce ptual Thinkin g 31
Self Initiative 35
Achievement Orientation 37
Adaptability 28
Service Orientation 27
Global Awareness 26
Self Confidence 28

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

ratings
 How are key potentials identified and which areas do they target?

companies How do companies Positions targeted

identify Key potentials?
GSK Mentoring & coaching and key positions in marketing ,
appraisal system R n D , Finance and sales
COKE Career discussions key positions

FRITO LAY No formal structure except critical positions esp. in

appraisals RnD
PREFETTI Resulted oriented key positions in sales and
“star performers” marketing

RANBAXY Individual development plans critical positions

VLCC appraisals key positions

CANON Performance management consumer imaging (CII) and

system sales (OSS)
WIPRO 360 degree appraisal top 75 positions

VARDHMAN appraisals key positions

 Recommendations.
Spread responsibility and ownership for succession
planning process design, execution and refinement.
Select a set of key leadership criteria and provide an
outstanding development process, aligned with corporate
culture, to help leaders meet requirements for
advancement.
international experience
cross-functional experience
completion of leadership courses

Screen effectively to identify high potentials and to

concentrate development resources on future leaders.
360-degree performance reviews
Performance-Potential grids
situation modeling.
 No Competency Model Fit

1 Action Oriented 7.5% 3.0%

2 Influence Ability 5.0% 2.0%

3 Composure 2.0% 1.0%

Competency Comparison
4 Conflict 5.5% 5.0%
Management

5 Interpersonal 3.0% 5.0%

Savvy

6 Listening 6.5% 6.0%

7 Negotiating 1.0% 2.0%

8 Organizational 3.0% 4.0%

Agility

Priority Gaps 9 Perseverance 7.0% 5.0%

John Doe
10 Presentation Skills 8.0% 0.0%
Developmental Planning
Division
Director … Others 3.0% 2.0%

Role Model Strengths TOTAL 100.0% 61.0%

Measure the results of succession planning process for
individuals and the corporation to ensure alignment with
goals.
Assigning employee development planning responsibility to a
corporate executive (usually in the HR department)
Linking development at the individual level
Integrating development reviews into the performance review
process
Creating a matrix to chart development and performance.