Along with everything else at Tesco as its travails continue, its unwieldy board structure has been questioned by analysts.

Along with everything else at Tesco as its travails continue, its unwieldy board structure has been questioned by analysts.

That might seem like worrying about the deckchairs on the Titanic but it may be less of an irrelevance than it sounds. The imminent departure of chief financial officer Laurie McIlwee leaves boss Philip Clarke effectively the only executive director on the board.

Is that appropriate as Tesco battles to turn itself around? Tesco’s 12-member board and 17-member executive committee looks increasingly unwieldy.

As Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne – a former Tesco man – observes, “there are limited voices on the Tesco board to challenge the current strategy and no debate from executive members as equal members with the non-executives”.

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