Dr. A. Bruce Clark

A. Bruce Clark, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorJesse H. Jones School of Business
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Dr. A. Bruce Clark is an Assistant Marketing Professor at Texas Southern University.He holds three technical and two business degrees, from Ohio State, Texas A&M, and the University of Houston.His Ph.D. Business Administration is from St. Louis University.Dr. Clark held executive and senior staff positions at A. C. Nielsen, American Airlines, Con Agra, and Metromail.He consulted at Anheuser Busch, Pet, and Reader's Digest, before forming his current consulting firm.Dr. Clark, who received the "Most Excellent Mentor" award for teaching excellence, has over 100 practical publications.His major research interests include forecasting, pricing, promotions, retailing, and strategy.

Bruce Clark, Ph.D., who teaches marketing at Texas Southern University in Houston, studied CEO changes in FORTUNE 500 companies from 1998 to 2000.He found that the average company with a leadership change --for any reason--saw its stock underperform relative to companies with no change by an average of 19% during the following year.While booting a CEO who can't deliver is, of course, a good strategy over the long term, it usually involves some immediate risk and instability, Clark says."Whenever a new CEO comes in he or she will usually clean house and try to write off anything that is shaky immediately."That way, any woes can be blamed on the outgoing regime."There can be a lot of dirt coming out," he says.

Just look at Silicon Graphics.