With Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally expected to retire by the end of 2013, the company decided to start discussing who should take his place once he does leave at Ford Motor Co.'s board meeting on Thursday.

Though no conclusion was determined by the end of the meeting, there are rumors that current president Mark Fields will be promoted to COO soon. The COO position has been unoccupied since 2006.

This move could be seen as a potential plan for Ford to promote Fields to CEO eventually. The successor decision basically comes down to how well he does until Mulally retires and if the company feels he would be the best fit for the position or if someone outside the company would be.

Mulally has yet to decide when he is going to retire, but the 67-year-old's indecision has been reportedly making an impact on the company's stock. People are not happy with the uncertainty of who will be controlling the company once Mulally leaves.

Though shares rose this week, the overall year numbers have declined 9.8 percent since this time last year.

"We do not comment on speculation about personnel actions," said Jay Cooney, a Ford spokesman to Automotive News. "Ford Motor Co. takes succession planning very seriously, and we have succession plans in place for each of our key leadership positions."

Though he doesn't know when exactly he is going to retire yet, most people in the company believe it will happen sometime by the end of 2013. This seems like the company has a long time to decide until then, but with Ford is probably discussing the matter already to be fully prepared when the time comes.

A quick decision for a successor is important so that stock holders and customers alike can start believing in the company again.

Ford narrowly eluded bankruptcy in 2006 because it borrowed $23.4 billion. This was just under three months after Mulally was named CEO of the company.

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