Succession planning at Wesfarmers is not confined to the chief executive's role judging from the management shake up at its supermarket business announced on Friday by Coles managing director John Durkan.
Durkan, who has been managing director of Coles for three years, has moved to sharpen customer service and merchandising by ensuring the heads of key business units have control over the quality, price and availability of products.
Previously, it was not unusual for problems in the grocery business, such as lack of availability of stock on shelves, to be blamed on logistics which were the responsibility of another part of the organisation.
Durkan is moving to the next stage of the transformation of Coles which started seven years ago under former managing director Ian McLeod.
McLeod moved quickly to fixing the woeful state of Coles stores and then competed aggressively on price.
Durkan says the executive changes will allow Coles to "double down" on customer service and merchandising at a time when the supermarkets business in Australia has never been more competitive.
The management changes provide outsiders with an indication of the rising talent within the supermarkets business thanks to a new pecking order of executives reporting to Durkan.
Coles accounts for 51 per cent of Wesfarmers's earnings before interest and tax. It is certain to be a source for broader succession planning over the next decade.
The most significant management changes at Coles have occurred in merchandising. Long standing executives George Dymond and Andy Coleman now have end to end oversight of business critical units. But as a result of the changes they no longer report to Durkan. Instead they now report to merchandise director Chris Nicholas.
Dymond, who previously worked as marketing director and merchandise director, is now grocery director. Coleman, who was previously operations director, is now director of deli, seafood and convenience food.
Two clear winners from the management changes are Simon McDowell and former adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Alister Jordan.
McDowell is the new chief customer officer. He will keep his responsibilities for property and store development. McDowell was formerly in charge of Coles Express and before that was marketing director.
Jordan has added responsibility for Coles Express to his existing role as head of corporate affairs and Coles Online. Coles Express contributes less than 10 per cent of Coles's profit but it is strategically important.
Coles Express had revenue of $6.7 billion in the year to June 2016, including an 11 per cent increase in convenience revenue.
Durkan has appointed a new head of people and culture, Leah Weckert. She is a former McKinsey & Co consultant who was previously general manager for Victoria.
The former head of human resources for Coles, Amanda Fleming, resigned earlier this year.
Durkan said the changes would allow Coles to be "more fleet of foot and deliver on our lower prices strategy".
