What is unthinkable at John Lewis but almost traditional at Marks & Spencer? The answer is poorly planned management succession, yet succession planning is one of the most important aspects of business management.

What is unthinkable at John Lewis but almost traditional at Marks & Spencer? The answer is poorly planned management succession, yet succession planning is one of the most important aspects of business management.

Why are retailers conspicuously bad at planning management succession - a topical issue given recent changes at so many retailers including Tesco, Asda, DFS and Morrisons.

Management in retailing is intrinsically more difficult than in many industries. Being decentralised, the art of good management is to ensure that in each store the retail proposition is correctly delivered to the customer.

Arguably any retailer is no better than its worst store and pulling levers at the centre does not necessarily produce the right results. In essence a retailer is much more than its profit and loss account and balance sheet.

It has a cultural identity, a unique DNA that management must be an integral part of.

Management must cultivate, protect and immerse themselves in this culture and recognise that changing it is a very difficult and potentially very damaging long-term process not to be undertaken lightly. This is what makes external recruitment a higher risk strategy. And with today’s retail leaders increasingly viewed as celebrities my nightmare is a retailer calling on Simon Cowell to organise their next chief executive’s appointment.

Despite high salaries and incentives, and however good a new recruit’s credentials, an external recruitment is a step into the unknown.

Never underestimate the cultural issues: when I was working with Philip Green on his first abortive bid for Marks & Spencer I suggested that in order to break the bureaucratic culture of complacency we should close the head office and relocate it in Leeds - perhaps not a complete break with tradition, given its origins as a market stall in Leeds.

Retailing is also an entrepreneurial business and entrepreneurs by definition have a problem with succession. They cannot envisage their ‘baby’ carrying on without them and ideally they will want to keep it in the ‘family’. However, there is no guarantee that the next generation will have either the aptitude or the desire to takeover. Remember the mess Sainsbury’s got itself into by cajoling a reluctant David Sainsbury back into the business, having pushed Peter Davis into leaving by making it clear that since he was not ‘family’ the route to the top was blocked.

Belatedly, Peter Davis returned but only after too many mistakes had been made - the industry had moved on and Peter, sadly, was arguably past his sell by date.

Happily, Darren Shapland’s recent move from finance to development director suggests lessons have been learnt and that Justin King’s eventual departure will not precipitate a crisis.

Even when there is no family heir, entrepreneurs have difficulty letting go and can find it hard to believe anyone else can do the job as well as them. No prize for speculating that is what Graham Kirkham is thinking about DFS - or perhaps he really is focused on a consultancy role motivating the England football team?

John Richards is a retail consultant