What do Sony and Sears have in common? Potential trouble at the top.

Sony’s Chairman and CEO, Howard Stringer, is rearranging the responsibilities of his senior team, believing they have been too focused on their home market of Japan at the expense of the rest of Sony’s global operations. His task is made more complicated by the fact that he’s the company’s first non-Japanese CEO, while his senior managers are almost all Japanese. According to the Wall Street Journal, Stringer has “met resistance from some Japanese executives accustomed to doing things the traditional way.” The question is whether Mr. Stringer has the skills, strength and credibility within the company to pull his vision off.

Sears has a different problem. Edward Lampert, the company’s Chairman, has all the strength and credibility he needs–his hedge fund controls more than half of Sears’ stock. But Lampert hasn’t been able to recruit a permanent CEO for over a year, which has complicated the company’s recovery efforts.

In both cases, issues surrounding strategic consensus could be destructively distracting. My research shows that a lack of consensus at the top of corporations is often the leading inhibitor of their returning to the growth curve. Both Sears and Sony face a lot of issues related to the economy, aggressive competition and changing dynamics within their industries. It’s vital to both that they ensure their management houses are in order.