Survey forecasts ‘brain drain’ at global retailers

Los Angeles A significant brain drain is being predicted at global retailers, according to a new study by the Korn/Ferry Institute.

The study, “What’s in store? The forecast for global retail,” is based on a survey of top retail CEOs and board members. It reveals a mismatch between retailers' belief that they can continue to meet their leadership talent needs with ease as the economy improves, and market forces combining to make this much more challenging to achieve.

Thirty-six percent of global retail leaders feel "very confident" that they will continue to attract best-in-class talent as the economy enters a recovery phase. However, 47% expect more senior executives to leave their firm and 43% think that more high-potential executives will leave.

Additionally, respondents voiced concerns about the need for a specific skill set to lead companies out of the recession, into recovery and onto growth. In particular, nearly a quarter (24%) of retail leaders feel that the ability to "create the new and different" is lacking in their senior management team.

The retail sector has been anecdotally known to lag behind other industries in developing succession planning strategies.  Forty-three percent of CEOs and executive leaders report that there has been no change in importance placed on succession planning. In fact, among respondents only 20% of CEOs and Board members claim they talk about succession more than once a year, which is in stark contrast to best-in-class organizations globally that discuss leadership identification and succession planning on a continuous basis.

"Our extensive survey of some of the most influential and highly rated CEOs and board members in the retail industry shows some conflicting trends,” said Tierney Remick, managing director of Korn/Ferry's Global Consumer Market. “Retailers see a real gap in the leadership skills they believe are necessary for the way forward; they believe having the right leadership talent is a strategic advantage and yet they also expect serious competitive threats for this senior executive talent over the next few years. A large number of retail companies are not leveraging strategic succession plans and identifying and retaining the right leadership talent for their business needs." 

Finally, there is almost unanimous agreement among CEOs and board members that leadership talent can be a competitive differentiator for retailers. Learning agility and innovation were cited by survey respondents as critical competencies for the achievement of retailing business objectives. It is therefore logical to conclude that global retailers that recruit, identify, assess and develop their leadership talent will reap the commercial rewards of a powerful and engaged work force.

Click here to download the study from The Korn/Ferry Institute Web site.