Corporate Board: role, duties & composition / Volume 1, Issue 3, 2005 Virtus Interpress – a Corporate Governance Publisher 13 AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE EXECUTIVE RECRUITMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN GREECE Dr. Dimitrios N. Koufopoulos*, Mrs Maria Elisavet N. Balta** Abstract Based on 42 succession events in Greek organizations, the study aims to examine the relationship between antecedent organisational characteristics such as size and performance of the firm and the source of successor (insider versus outsider). In addition, Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO’s) demographic characteristics such as age, functional and educational background as well as industry, organization and position/ job tenure- are discussed in relation to organisational effectiveness. Keywords: Executive Recruitment, Chief Executive Officers, Greece *Brunel Business School, BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK Tel: (01895) 265250, Fax: (01895) 269775, E-mail: Dimitrios.Koufopoulos@brunel.ac.uk ** Brunel Business School, BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK Tel: (01895) 267116, Fax: (01895) 203149, E-mail: Maria.Balta@brunel.ac.uk Introduction Over the last two decades a substantial body of knowledge has been developed regarding Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) succession. Recent pressures on the position of CEO due to turnover, retirement and replacements as well as the emphasis on the effectiveness of boardroom have placed executive recruitment as a front-burner topic in the corporate governance and board of directors’ research domain. Within this field, executive recruitment has been an issue with significant positive or negative implications for organisational performance and organisational survival (Datta and Guthrie, 1994). The relationships between the CEOs demographic characteristics, the organisation’s characteristics and organisational effectiveness have been a subject of increased research attention in the areas of organization theory (e.g., Dalton and Kesner, 1983, 1985), strategic management (e.g., Boeker and Goodstein, 1993; Cannella and Lubatkin, 1993; Datta and Guthrie, 1994; Beatty and Zajac, 1987; Reinganum, 1985) and financial economic literature (e.g., Johnson, Magee, Nagarajan and Newman, 1985; Fama, 1980). Nowadays, organisations are operating in an increasingly competitive environment, which is characterised by pressures stemming primarily from international competition, corporate mergers and acquisitions, industry restructuring and global skill shortage (Jackson and Schuler, 2003). The selection of CEO successor represents a critical organization decision (Datta and Rajagopalan, 1998), because organizations are often seen as a reflection of their top managers and the decisions they make (Chaganti and Sambharya, 1987; Hambrick and Mason, 1984). These developments have made executive succession even more crucial for the organisation’s success and survival (Carrell, Elbert & Hatfield, 2000; Storey and Sisson, 1993). Given the great importance accredited by numerous researchers to this issue, the study focuses exclusively on the description and analysis of the interrelationships lying beneath organizational characteristics (size, performance) and CEOs’ demographic characteristics (age, educational and functional background as well as industry, organizational and position/job tenure). In order to structure our study, we have developed a model - shown in Figure 1-, which seeks to examine all these elements and their interrelationships.. Figure 1 Furthermore, one of the key objectives of this study is to examine these concepts and their interrelationships, on the basis of empirical findings in a relatively new, for the relevant literature, context; that is Greece. Finally, our objective, through the empirical findings, will be to examine a number of propositions, which have been set in order to investigate the existence of trends and