CEO Tenure and Profitability in Australian Mining: A Research Proposal

This research proposal investigates the relationship between profitability and CEO tenure within the top five mining companies in Australia over the last decade. The study aims to determine the influence of financial performance on CEO tenure, exploring whether profitability is the primary determinant or if other factors also play a significant role. The proposal includes a refined problem statement, research aim, objectives, and scope, along with a justification for the project and potential outputs. A conceptual framework is established, drawing on existing literature to guide the research. The methodology outlines the research design, type of investigation (qualitative), data sources (secondary), and data analysis techniques (thematic analysis). Finally, the proposal details the project organization, budget, and schedule, providing a comprehensive plan for conducting the research and analyzing the impact of profitability on CEO tenure within the Australian mining industry.

Research proposal

Table of Contents
Title:- “Impact of Profitability on CEO tenure of Top 5 Mining Companies in Australia over last
10 years”..........................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1) Refined Problem Statement, Aim, Objectives and Scope...........................................................3
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................3
Research aim...............................................................................................................................4
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................4
Scope...........................................................................................................................................4
2) Research Project Justification and Potential Outputs .................................................................5
3) The Conceptual Framework .......................................................................................................5
4) Research Methodology................................................................................................................6
5) Research Project Organisation, Budget and Schedule.................................................................7
Project organisation.....................................................................................................................7
Budget.........................................................................................................................................8
Schedule......................................................................................................................................8
........................................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

Title:- “Impact of Profitability on CEO tenure of Top 5 Mining Companies in
Australia over last 10 years”
INTRODUCTION
The mining companies started growing at a rapid pace in term of market share as well as
economic profitability. The growth of an organisation is highly depend over the guidance or
governance of CEO which they maintain in order to manage the operations toward the
accomplishment of pre-specified objectives. The CEO of an organisation is consider as most
senior corporate executive or administrative officer who remain responsible for formulating
strategies, policies and take crucial action for managing business operations (Mousa and
Chowdhury, 2014). They plays a significant role in creating value at marketplace and at the same
time work toward direction its business toward success so that higher profitability can be
achieved. The CEO tenure within an organisation mainly depend upon the manner in which they
operate or manage the business operations and the profitability that an organisation earns under
their guidance. There are number of data mining organisation within Australia that has
experienced tremendous growth in term of their business. In these organisations, CEO has set a
great example in front of others in term of their governance and management which supported
them in enhancing the level of performance as well as profitability. Some among them are BHP
Group Limited, Rio Tinto Limited, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, Newcrest Mining Limited and
Newcrest Mining Limited. These organisation get their great leaders who supported them to
reach at new heights and be able to mark their presence at market by creating the value among its
associated stakeholders.
1) Refined Problem Statement, Aim, Objectives and Scope
Problem statement
The mining organisations are experiencing a positive economic progression within their
operations due to the efforts of their great leaders who directed over a pathway of success and
contribute toward growth of companies. The CEOs plays a significant role within an organisation
where they work for improving the functioning and presence of an organisation at marketplace.
Within their tenure, CEOs mainly focuses toward maximising the organisational value and profit
by establishing a strong foundation and striking toward the investment (Fitza, 2014).

Simultaneously they work under a pressure related with policies and strategy over which the
operations of organisation being executed. Therefore, they act as a leader by directing the
employees as well as their effort toward organisational aims and at the same time they held
responsible for these too. So in case when the organisation get fail to achieve their targets under
the guidance of CEO or face any kind of loss due to lack of controllability then as a result of
which the tenure get to an end as their either get disqualified or the Board of directors decide to
change their position due to lack of controllability which they present. This study is conducted
for determining the influence that profitability of an organisation have over the CEO tenure
among top 5 mining companies that are operating within Australia. It will explore about the
influence of profitability of company over the CEO tenure and several other factors that have a
influence over this tenure other than profit which results into the depart of a CEO of
organisation.
Research aim
The main aim of this report is “To determine the impact of profitability on CEO tenure of
Top 5 Mining Companies in Australia over last 10 years”
Research objectives
 To determine the relationship between profitability and CEO tenure of top five mining
companies within Australia
 To identify does profit is the only contributed factor toward CEO tenure.
Scope
The scope of this is very vast as it help in enhancing the knowledge of people toward the
elements that affect the tenure to which a CEO operates an organisation. In addition to this this
study will flash a light over the number of factors that must be consider by the Board of directors
while assigning an individual with the responsibility of CEO (Zhang and Qu, 2016). Despite of
this, it will also support in determining the number of elements that affect a position of the CEO
within an organisation. In context of research, the scope is also large as the information gathered
for this study will be more reliable and accurate that support future investigators in developing
an understanding over the nature of study and can further extend the study to add new
information.

2) Research Project Justification and Potential Outputs
The main purpose behind selecting this study area is to determine the role of CEO within
an organisation success and manner in which their position get affected within the organisation.
This study will support in uncovering the various elements as well as factor that have a direct
influence over the tenure which a CEO usually spend within an organisation. With the help of
this study it become easier to determine the manner in which an organisation can achieve
profitability under the guidance of CEO as they act as a leader that build up a path over which
the employees perform their operations.
But performing investigation over determining the influence of profitability over the
tenure that a CEO spend within an organisation that support the aspirants in getting an
understanding regarding the area in which they must require improvement so that they can be
retained by organisation for longer duration. Additionally it also help in providing an information
regarding the elements that may affect this tenure by considering the example of five mining
companies that are doing well in Australian market (Sheikh, 2018). This will support in
presenting the information by taking the real life based detail of these mining companies and
manner in which the performance of CEO influence the organisational profitability and how they
in return affect the tenure of CEO within that particular organisation.
3) The Conceptual Framework
As per the information provided by Zeki Simsek, 2020, CEO job tenure have a huge
influence over the organisation, its performance and profitability as well. This is so because the
employees within an organisation is highly get influenced by the CEO which in turn further
influence the performance and productivity of employees. In addition to this the performance of
organisation further support in retaining the CEO position in organisation for longer duration.
For example, BHP group limited is operated by CEO named as Mr Mike Henry which supported
the organisation in increasing its profitability and from study it has been identified that the
company was having a dividend of 0.40 in year 2016 which get increased up to 3.33 by year
2019 (BHP GROUP LIMITED, 2020). On the other hand, the Rio Tinto Limited become able to
increase its dividend which was 2.11 in year 2016 and it get increased up to 8.97 which state that
CEO i.e. Mr Jean-Sebastien Jacques supported in increasing the level of profitability within
these 5 years (RIO TINTO LIMITED, 2020). The Fortescue Metals Group Ltd faced ups and
downs in their dividend when it move from 0.15 to 1.14 which is good but relatively lower from

the other competitors (FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LTD, 2020). While the dividend of
Newcrest Mining Limited is operating at a lower rate which was 0.10 in year 2016 and it further
get increased to 0.32 which is very low due inappropriate operations of CEO (NEWCREST
MINING LIMITED, 2020). Other than this, South32 Limited where the company's dividend is
dropping down which was 0.18 in year 2018 but get reduced to 0.14 (SOUTH32 LIMITED,
2020). Through this information it can be said that the CEO is a ,key person who have a huge
influence over the performance of an organisation.
4) Research Methodology
The research methodology is a framework that involve a detail description regarding
several tools and techniques that will be used within an investigation in order to gather, evaluate
and interpret the information in effective manner. The tools and techniques used within this
investigation is mentioned below:
 Research design:- The whole investigation is depend over research deign as it help in
deciding the structure as well as pattern that an investigator follows in order to gather or
represent the information. The research design are of three type such as exploratory,
experimental and descriptive. In order to conduct this investigation effectively the
investigator will make use of descriptive research design which support in presenting the
information in more detailed manner so that it remain meaningful and become easier to
extract the conclusion.
 Type of investigation:- It refers to the type of data that will be gathered in order to
perform a investigation effectively. There are two type of investigation such as
qualitative and quantitative that are opt by an investigator to perform study. For
performing this study the qualitative mean of investigation will be taken into
consideration (Luo, Kanuri and Andrews, 2014). This is so because it help in presenting
detailed information while considering theoretical framework which ensure that the
information remains well explained by making use of existing theories and concepts
which further contribute toward accomplishment of research goals.
 Data sources:- It define as the sources through which the information for a particular
study area will be gathered as per the specified aims and objectives. There are mainly two
5type of sources that an investigator use for gathering information such as primary and
secondary. Among them secondary data collection method will be used as it help in

collecting the information from the already available data which support in enhancing the
knowledge and understanding of a investigator regarding the nature of study by critically
evaluating the information provided by several scholars. For this research online source
for secondary information will be taken into consideration.
 Data analysis:- It refer to the tool which is used to evaluate the information that is
gathered through investigation. Under this research the thematic technique will be taken
into consideration where various themes are being formulated that help in carrying out
the investigation effectively. Here the theme are created in a manner that it represent the
information which is to be presented underneath.
5) Research Project Organisation, Budget and Schedule
Project organisation
The current study consist of group of sections that support the investigator in performing
the research within well structured format so that most appropriate outcome can be
accomplished. The organisation of study for this research report is mentioned below:
Activity 1: This section contains a information regarding the problem statement over
which the investigation will be performed and issues or areas that will be covered within the
information. In addition to this it also include the aims and objective of study as well as the
scope of the study for the future propose (Luo, Kanuri and Andrews, 2014).
Activity 2: This section contains detail about the main justification behind choosing this
area of study and what would be the potential outcome of this study for providing an idea
regarding the direction of study.
Activity 3: This section elaborates about the conceptual framework regarding the
objectives of study where the secondary information regarding this study area will be presented
from the view point of several authors.
Activity 4: This part of study contains the detail about research methodology which
includes set of tools and techniques that will be used to gather and evaluate information about the
area of study (Sheikh, 2018).
Activity 5: This section includes information regarding the project organisation such as
procedure followed to complete the report. Additionally it also includes the budget required for
the report and schedule through which the study get completed.

Budget
The budget for this research would be of around $3500 which is required by the
investigator to perform this project effectively as per scheduled in Gantt chart. Under this.
 For conducting literature review resources like journal article, online sources, textbook
would be required which cost around $800.
 Additionally secondary data will be required to purchase which cost around $1800
 Data structuring and analysis will require the fund of around $ 900
Purpose Estimated amount to be spent
Literature review $800
Data collection $1800
Data Analysis $ 900
Total Budget Estimated $3500
Schedule

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Fitza, M. A. (2014). The use of variance decomposition in the investigation of CEO effects: How
large must the CEO effect be to rule out chance?. Strategic Management
Journal, 35(12), 1839-1852.
Luo, X., Kanuri, V. K., & Andrews, M. (2014). How does CEO tenure matter? The mediating
role of firm‐employee and firm‐customer relationships. Strategic Management
Journal, 35(4), 492-511.
Mousa, F. T., & Chowdhury, J. (2014). Organizational slack effects on innovation: the
moderating roles of CEO tenure and compensation. Journal of Business Economics and
Management, 15(2), 369-383.
Sheikh, S. (2018). The impact of market competition on the relation between CEO power and
firm innovation. Journal of Multinational Financial Management, 44, 36-50.
Zhang, Y., & Qu, H. (2016). The impact of CEO succession with gender change on firm
performance and successor early departure: Evidence from China’s publicly listed
companies in 1997–2010. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), 1845-1868.
Online
Simsek. Z. CEO tenure and organizational performance. 2020. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227903205_CEO_tenure_and_organizationa
l_performance>./
SOUTH32 LIMITED. 2020. [Online] Available through: <https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-
price-research/company/S32/statistics/shares>./
NEWCREST MINING LIMITED. 2020. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-price-research/company/NCM/statistics/shares>./
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LTD. 2020. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-price-research/company/FMG/statistics/shares>./
RIO TINTO LIMITED. 2020. [Online] Available through: <https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-
price-research/company/RIO/details>./
BHP GROUP LIMITED. 2020. [Online] Available through: <https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-
price-research/company/BHP/statistics/shares>./