The appointment of Andy Higginson as Morrisons’ next chairman is the latest instance of musical chairs in the leading grocers’ boardrooms.

Higginson’s move to Morrisons follows news of Philip Clarke’s departure from Tesco and Mike Coupe’s accession at Sainsbury’s.

There can rarely have been such radical change at the top of the country’s biggest retailers.

While Coupe’s promotion was much anticipated and orderly, it is nevertheless the case that the one big grocer where there has been no tectonic shift is Asda, which Andy Clarke has steered for more than four years.

Along with JS, Asda was the only one of the big four to hold its own in the latest 12-week Kantar data, which showed the Walmart-owned giant maintained its 17% market share.

Partly that’s because of laser-sharp focus on Asda’s fundamental consumer proposition based on value credentials. But it’s also because Asda has kept up with, or jumped ahead of, the curve of changing market conditions.

Asda has no presence in the c-store market, for instance, and instead thought about convenience from an alternative perspective through innovations such as a collection service from London Tube stations.

And Asda has restructured to reflect the shift to multichannel shopping, prompting some painful staffing decisions for Clarke.

Asda can’t afford to be complacent, though. The Kantar numbers for a shorter four-week period suggested some softening of Asda’s sales, analysts noted.

But there is no sign that Asda will rest on its laurels and its success so far is testament to Clarke.

One of the reasons there’s been no change of leadership at Asda is that Asda has not been afraid to change.