Trouble at the top

THE proportion of chief executives forced from office fell to 3.3% last year from 5.1% in 2008, the lowest level since 2003. According to an annual study by Booz & Company, a consultancy, the turnover rate at the world's 2,500 biggest publicly listed companies remains high at 14.3%. Unsurprisingly, the financial sector saw most blood-letting, with 5.2% of bosses fired and a turnover rate of 17.2%. The report also notes a preference for promoting chief executives from within a company. Over the past ten years around 80% of boards choose insiders for the top job. These CEOs are dismissed less frequently than those brought in from outside, while steering companies to give better returns to shareholders.