Search

New York State Comptroller Edward V. Regan's resignation will not hurt the shareholder-activism movement. As comptroller, Regan served as trustee for the New York State and Local Retirement Systems. As president of Bard College's Jerome Levy Economics Institute, he will continue his fight to improve US corporations' performance. The institute will take part in a study of employees' and the public's stake in corporate governance.

Often, leaders blame everything but themselves when their companies go out of business. CEO Richard Fuld maintained that his huge compensation didn't contribute to the death of Lehman Brothers in [...]

The role of corporate governance in reducing market volatility in the United Kingdom is investigated. Corporate governance remained stable despite the volatility brought about by the economic crisis. A consistent trend towards smaller boards has also been observed.

It seems logical that a good manager would want to deal with 'dirty laundry' inside the organization before there were any negative headlines--or even a tragedy. Yet, many companies fail [...]

A study was conducted to analyze the environmental terms, themes, and page length of FTSE-100 corporate responsibility reports from May 2008. Findings indicate that the term 'corporate responsibility' (CR) appeared 13 times more often than 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR). Majority of companies also failed to define various environmental terms.

There is much emphasis on the issue of internal control in businesses in the US, which has led to the passing of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, to recommendations made by the National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting (Treadway Commission), and very recently, to a study prepared by the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission and Coopers and Lybrand's Management Consulting Services. This study proposes a single definition of internal control and presents a set of criteria that management can use to measure controls of a comprehensive internal control framework. These include the defining of corporate objectives, effective assessment of risk, the setting up of information systems and control procedures, and the management of change. The US study may help British directors and senior managers evaluate how well their own companies are being controlled.

Investigating what makes a board of directors succeed or fail is the topic of new doctoral research. Recipient of the inaugural New Zealand Shareholders' Association doctoral scholarship, Christchurch consultant Denis [...]

Firms with the best corporate governance records are producing returns 18 per cent higher than those with poor records, according to research by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The [...]

Two major incidents coincided in the last several years that fundamentally changed the value we put into the word 'protect.' The first was 9/11, the implication being that our need [...]

More than half of the FTSE All-Share companies are failing to comply with the Combined Code on corporate governance. According to research by activist shareholder group Pirc, only 47 per [...]

'Corporate responsibility' has become a buzzword in the wake of recent scandals, but what exactly does it mean? After all, a 2001 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and [...]

AMERICAN COMPANIES have largely skirted the controversy over whether CEOs should also be chairmen of their boards, but the drumbeat of governance reform has brought the debate back to center […]

Robert M. Bushman and Abbie J. Smith focus their governance research on the role of financial accounting data in managerial incentive contracts and on cross-country differences in financial reporting and governance processes. This is valuable work, but there are some limitations, including the fact that a macro-level assessment of the role of accounting information is made.

The information and disclosure accounting research undertaken by Healy and Palepu is discussed, with suggestions for future research work given.

Research into the use of non-executive directors (NED) by companies is presented. The results of a survey of 802 appointments are analysed and the favorable impact of NED appointment on shareholder value under certain conditions is shown.

A new study seeks to determine whether Japanese management practices should be adopted by Western manufacturers and discusses why certain Japanese approaches are successful. Includes abstracts from the wider literature.

Drug abuse lies behind a series of drastic challenges facing the workplace. It undermines productivity and detracts from the quality of products and services. The writer, chief executive at one of America's largest corporations, has proven through programs at his company, that the problem can be managed and corrected - saving families, careers, and lives. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.), John W. Johnstone is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Olin Corporation. Olin Corporation has been repeatedly honored for its progressive approach to the problem of [...]

The effect of gender on corporate governance was examined in relation to the experiences of male and female corporate directors in publicly-traded corporations in Israel. Results showed that when correlates of gender were controlled, individual-level differences tended to disappear. The results, however, also suggested that gender could be viewed as a social institution and directors seen as being members of a gendered occupation. As such, it is argued that gender roles are embedded in the practices and processes that take place in the social context of the boardroom.

A model for the analysis of governance in successful strategic alliances is presented. This framework asserts that the legal contract between the partners performs part of the governance task. However, it also identifies relational, ethical and institutional aspects as important factors governing strategic alliances and providing stability. The case studies demonstrate that international alliance partners maintain the exchange of resources to protect and bolster their legitimacy and reputation as well as to fulfill their promises.

Pity the poor board member. According to a recent study, directors who oust CEOs for bad performance are almost twice as likely to lose their seats as they would if [...]