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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Enabling success: talent management

Brantley Retail has a succession plan naming one internal successor for each senior post. During the year three senior managers left for competitors, and in two cases the named successor was unprepared and the board hired externally at higher cost. A review finds successors were named but received no structured development, and the pool was never widened. What is the most appropriate conclusion about the plan?

The plan is essentially a replacement chart, not a true talent pipeline. Naming one successor per post without structured development or a broad pool of candidates leaves them unprepared, so the firm must still hire externally at higher cost when senior managers leave.

  1. AIt is sound because successors were identified for every post
  2. BIt is a replacement chart rather than a pipeline, lacking development and a broad pool of candidatesCorrect
  3. CIt should be abandoned because external hiring is always superior
  4. DIt fails only because salaries were too low

Explanation

Naming a single successor without development or a wider pool is replacement planning. A true pipeline builds several candidates through structured development such as job rotation and coaching. Option one ignores the evidence of unreadiness; external hiring is not always superior; no salary data is given.

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