Nowadays, business is becoming more complex than ever before and posing a severe challenge to top-level managers to attract and retain quality human resources for various managerial roles. When a position falls vacant due to retirement or unanticipated departure of employees from the organization, finding replacement becomes very critical to the business. An effective succession management is one of the best ways to build competitive advantage by ensuring steady and uninterrupted supply of required talent for the various management levels in the organization. Modern succession is not only about finding replacement for top-level managerial roles, but it's also about finding the right talent and preparing them for the next role at all levels of management in the organization.

An airplane crashes in the desert, killing all on board. Among the passengers are top managers of Acme Engineering, a successful consulting firm. When the Vice-President of Human Resources at Acme is summoned to the phone to receive the news, she gasps, turns pale, looks blankly at her secretary, and breathlessly voices the first question that enters her mind: Now who is in charge?

We are witnessing the wave of globalization and, of liberalization in each and every aspect of our lives. The world is moving with terrific speed and markets are becoming more competitive than ever before as there are no barriers for firms if they wish to operate outside the domestic boundaries. On the other hand, competition, nowadays, is also becoming evident between corporates for owning effective and efficient human resources. Management practitioners do believe that we are entering into an era where success will be essentially determined by the ability of the organization in hiring and retaining quality human resources for a long time.

At the same time, quality human resource has always been a relatively scarce commodity within the companies. Retaining the quality human resource for the long-term has become a serious challenge for the managers and in this backdrop an effective HR strategy requires an effective planning to train and retain the potential leader who can hold the crown in the near future.

HRM Review Magazine, Succession Management, Human Resources, Lilly Research Laboratories, Leadership Development Council, LDC, Risk management, Bank of America, Petroleum Industries, Educational and Management Development Programs, Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization, LPG.