Sanofi Should Take Note: Insiders Might Just Make Better CEOs

As Sanofi looks for a replacement for Chris Viehbacher, it might want to take the recent track records of the CEOs at its competitors into consideration before making a decision.

The rapid of ouster of Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher in November points to bigger problems at the French pharma beyond the execution issues the board claimed were the reasoning behind his abrupt dismissal. The public termination also shows the board failed to put an executive succession plan into place, forcing Sanofi to look beyond its own ranks. Yet, history shows that bringing in an external candidate can carry major risk.

According to an annual study conducted by Strategy& and PwC, of the top 2,500 public companies, more than 75% of...

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