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•Initial fungal diversity positively impacted fungal succession.•Fungal succession significantly affected metabolic succession.•Metabolic succession drove metabolic diversity.•Initial ...fungal diversity regulated metabolic diversity.
Microbiota plays an important role in flavor compounds formation during food fermentation. However, the role of initial microbial diversity in regulating flavor compounds formation is still unclear. Here, we used high-throughput amplicon sequencing and structural equation modeling to reveal the effect of initial microbial diversity on final metabolic diversity in Chinese sesame flavor-type liquor fermentation. The results showed that the initial fungal diversity positively impacted fungal succession (R = 0.74, P < 0.001). The longest fungal succession distance (0.054) was observed at the highest initial fungal diversity (38.580). Moreover, fungal succession positively affected metabolic succession (R = 0.71, P < 0.001), and the metabolic succession positively promoted the metabolic diversity (R = 0.68, P < 0.001). In addition, the longest succession distance of fungi (0.054) led to the longest succession distance of metabolites (0.065), and resulted in the highest metabolic diversity (0.409), that was significantly higher than the lowest metabolic diversity (0.219) (P < 0.05). Finally, a simulative fermentation experiment verified the significant and positive effect of initial fungal diversity on final metabolic diversity (R2 = 0.52, P < 0.05) in liquor fermentation. These results indicated the importance of initial fungal diversity for promoting flavor compounds formation. This work provides insights into improving flavor compounds formation by controlling initial fungal diversity in food fermentation, and it will be beneficial for improving the quality of fermented foods.
Scholars studying upper echelons have found that executive succession can serve as an important adaptation mechanism. The bulk of these findings, however, derive from market-based governance ...settings, which raises an issue of contextual robustness. This study examines this issue by investigating the link between executive succession and strategic change in Japan, a context noted for relatively weak market-based corporate governance and lack of board independence. We find a greater likelihood of strategic change after non-routine executive succession, with the extent of change unaffected by firm performance. Routine succession in the case of a powerful prior president leads to less post-succession strategic change.
Our study investigates an unexplored succession process—interim CEO successions. We define an interim CEO succession as a case where the title of chief executive officer is vacated by the incumbent ...and the board of directors has not announced a permanent successor, but instead designates a particular individual as ' interim CEO,' or 'acting CEO,' or 'CEO until a permanent successor is named. ' Theory predicts that interim CEO successions will lead to the type of disruption that can harm firm performance, even after a permanent successor is appointed. Our data show that interim CEO succession processes are widely employed by publicly-traded U.S. firms, and that they are associated with lower performance during the period in which the interim serves. However, whether the interim CEO also simultaneously serves as chairman moderates the impact of this type of succession on firm performance, as well as on long-term firm survival.
Tracy Duberman is Founder & President, The Leadership Development Group (TLD Group), and Paul Erdahl is a senior consultant at TLD Group. The TLD Group helps boards of health care organizations ...position themselves for success through board retreats, board assessment, and selection, board succession planning, board team effectiveness, and more. In this article, they explore how talent management strategies can be used to build effective boards.
Research Summary
Extant research rarely explores the relationship between executive compensation and chief executive officer (CEO) succession planning, despite practitioner claims that executive pay ...disparities indicate succession planning (in)effectiveness. Leveraging signaling theory, we use 830 succession events from 2010 to 2017 to show that pay disparity between the CEO and the highest paid non‐CEO executive is positively related to the likelihood of outside CEO succession. Thus, boards need to be aware of the implications of possible unintentional signals sent via executive compensation decisions. We do not find evidence of an interactive effect when compensation and CEO succession are co‐managed using linking pin directors—directors with compensation and CEO succession responsibilities—but supplemental analyses suggest a positive main effect of linking pin directors on the likelihood of inside CEO succession.
Managerial Summary
Powerful watchdog agencies assert that high pay differences between a firm's CEO and its next highest paid executive (CEO–HPE pay disparity) indicate succession planning challenges. This assertion has profound implications for stakeholders, but evidence supporting it is unclear. Our study examines the relationship between CEO–HPE pay disparity and the board's choice of an outside CEO, an indicator of ineffective succession planning. We find evidence that higher pay disparity signals an increased likelihood of choosing an outside CEO successor. We also find that boards who co‐manage compensation and succession may be more likely to hire an inside CEO successor. Our findings suggest that boards need to understand how compensation decisions may be inadvertently signaling future CEO succession choices.
Building a strong autocratic state requires stability in ruler-elite relations. From this perspective the absence of a successor is problematic, as the elite have few incentives to remain loyal if ...the autocrat cannot reward them for their loyalty after his death. However, an appointed successor has both the capacity and the motive to challenge the autocrat. We argue that a succession based on primogeniture solves the dilemma, by providing the regime with a successor who can afford to wait to inherit the throne peacefully. We test our hypothesis on a dataset covering 961 monarchs ruling 42 European states between 1000 and 1800, and show that fewer monarchs were deposed in states practicing primogeniture than in states practicing alternative succession orders. A similar pattern persists in the world's remaining absolute monarchies. Primogeniture also contributed to building strong states: In 1801 all European monarchies had adopted primogeniture or succumbed to foreign enemies.
The article initially addresses the concept of familiness and its connection with the succession process in the family firm to emphasize the relevance of the successor’s knowledge. Then, a model is ...presented that evolves from a dyadic relationship in the knowledge transfer process from predecessor to successor to a network of exchanges with multiple agents and sources that enhance the successor’s construction of knowledge through time. Key aspects derived from that model about the successor’s human capital, the predecessor’s role, the knowledge network, the relational context, and the time dimension of the process are then discussed.
We tested whether and how functional composition changes with succession in dry deciduous and wet evergreen forests of Mexico. We hypothesized that compositional changes during succession in dry ...forest were mainly determined by increasing water availability leading to community functional changes from conservative to acquisitive strategies, and in wet forest by decreasing light availability leading to changes from acquisitive to conservative strategies. Research was carried out in 15 dry secondary forest plots (5-63 years after abandonment) and 17 wet secondary forest plots (<1-25 years after abandonment). Community-level functional traits were represented by community-weighted means based on 11 functional traits measured on 132 species. Successional changes in functional composition are more marked in dry forest than in wet forest and largely characterized by different traits. During dry forest succession, conservative traits related to drought tolerance and drought avoidance decreased, as predicted. Unexpectedly acquisitive leaf traits also decreased, whereas seed size and dependence on biotic dispersal increased. In wet forest succession, functional composition changed from acquisitive to conservative leaf traits, suggesting light availability as the main driver of changes. Distinct suites of traits shape functional composition changes in dry and wet forest succession, responding to different environmental filters.
Ireland is unusual in a succession law context as despite being a common law jurisdiction Irish succession law applies a comprehensive system of forced heirship for spouses under the Succession Act ...1965. However, notwithstanding the strengths inherent in such a regime, shortcomings have emerged. This paper considers the position of the surviving spouse who has been disinherited, and the challenges they face in Ireland in the application of the legal right share towards the appropriation of the family home. In light of the difficulties identified, the paper proposes a new and alternative approach based on the provision of a preferential share representing a fixed monetary sum, subject to limitations. The proposal is then tested from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The paper concludes that the implementation of such a proposal, as an alternative to the legal right share, would eradicate one of the most striking weaknesses inherent in the current regime, and should be afforded serious consideration.
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