Perhaps it has something to do with the nature of its business, but there was a time when changing the guard at bae Systems was a combative affair. From the ousting in 1991 of Sir Roland Smith, a chairman, to the ejection (while on a skiing holiday) in 2002 of John Weston, a chief executive who had thought himself in line for the job of chairman, regicide has been a prime tool of talent management at Europe's biggest defence firm.rnSo when on October 16th the company announced that Mike Turner, a pugnacious company lifer, would step down as chief executive next year, its statement was scrutinised for any sign that this wasrnan ejection rather than the voluntary retirement he and the company claimed. Observers pointed out that just a few months ago he had told a newspaper he planned to stay in his job for five years or more, and that he had in the past said he hoped to succeed Dick Olver as chairman. The two clashed two years ago when Mr Turner, who describes himself as a "rough guy from the North" of England, said that Mr Olver (a former bp man), didn't understand the defence industry. "They had a robust relationship," says a company spokesman, playing down the rift. "So do many chairmen and chief executives."
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