A CEO resignation is not a highly important event in and of itself.
Leadership succession happens all the time.
That said, when resignations are occurring more frequently than expected, are more (less) common among
big (small) or public (private) companies, or are concentrated in one or a select few
related industries or regions, we should seek to understand why.
Another way that resignations might be important concerns the position that the companies have in the broader corporate social network.
Most often such networks are formed by interlocking directorates, as here.
https:// upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/AIG-Interlocks-2004. jpg
Such a social network could also be constructed from other relationships such as
BUYER/SUPPLIER: which companies were linked by supplier, buyer, or other supply chain relationships
JOINT VENTURE/STRATEGIC ALLIANCE: which companies were linked by joint ventures, technology licensing, co-patenting, or strategic alliances?
SUB-CONTRACTING: which companies were linked through sub-contracting relationships either to one another or to a third company
SAME CUSTOMER: Which companies compete directly for the same customers/markets or share the customers in different markets
SAME SUPPLIER: Which companies are linked through common suppliers or supply chain partners, or use same law firm
or lobbyists
OTHER: were any companies with resigning CEOs linked through other relationship, e.g. significant ownership stakes,
subsidiary, spin-out, merger/acquisition, etc.
If one finds a correlation between resignations and firm positions in the corporate social network, further, deeper digging might be called for. That is to say, if the resignations are happening among very central players in the network, it's good to understand why. The same applies if resignations
are more common among peripheral firms in the network.
Another angle on this data would be to identify the politicians with whom the resigning CEOs (and their firms) are directly and indirectly related.
Such politicians would include, but not be limited to, (a) the mayor of the city where the company is headquartered (b) the state-reps and senators (c) congressional rep (d) senators.
Among the CEO-to-politician relationships that could be examined are:
DONATION: which politicians received political/campaign donations from which resigning CEOs?
PARTY AFFILIATION: which politicians share the same party affiliation as the resigning CEOs?
FAMILY: which politicians are related (by blood or marriage) to which CEOs?
FAMILY2: which politicians' children or spouses work for which CEO-companies and vice versa?
EDUCATION: which politicians attended the same university, graduate school, as the CEO?
FINANCIAL: which politicians (or members of their families) previously (currently) sat (sits) on the board
of directors, was (is) an officer, was (is) an employee, are co-owners investors, etc.
OVERSIGHT: which politicians did (do) sit on committees that oversee or have regulatory power over the industry
to which the resigning CEO's company belongs.
EMPLOYMENT: which current politicians once worked for company and/or which current employees once were previously politicians
Examining these relationships can potentially reveal patterns not otherwise observable from creating lists and tables or by studying frequency (of resignations).