Mini-Case 17-2: Passing the Baton

question 119

Essay

Mini-Case 17-2: Passing the Baton
Carol Wingard started a small jewelry manufacturing company when she was in her late 20s, and has worked hard to build it into a highly successful family business. Now, 40 years later, she was "ready to sit down and enjoy life." Seven family members, including her two sons, Ralph and Cooper, work in the business. Ralph, with 30 years of experience, and Cooper, with 22 years of experience, are both vice presidents of the company.
Carol has always intended to pass the business on to her sons, who together own 20 percent of the company's stock. However, she has always been too busy running the business to put together a formal management succession plan. For the past decade, many of the employees have whispered among themselves about who would be named President if Mrs. Wingard stepped down and exactly what would happen to the business.
Now that she has decided to retire, Carol wants to begin developing a management succession plan.
-Carol calls you and announces her plans to retire within a year. What advice would you offer her about a management succession plan?

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Definitions:

Retinal Disparity

The slight difference in visual perception that comes from the images projected on the retinae of the eyes, which is a cue to depth perception.

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive the world in three dimensions and judge the distance of an object.

Convergence

The process or state of converging, in various contexts such as the meeting of two or more lines or paths at a point, or the evolution of similar features in independent species.

Parallel Processing

The ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli of differing quality, a key feature of neural network functioning.