There are people who simply cannot be effectively replaced. That does not mean that the powers that be will not replace them. For example, a startup might have a critical engineer who happens to know how everything works or holds everything together. They can be replaced, although this may have a severe impact on the startup, including the failure of the startup.
To your point, even if someone is critical to the success of an organization does not mean that they won't ever be replaced by poor management.