Sociological Images (Boys Want Success, Girls Want Boys) noted a recent Acuvue contact lens commercial aimed at teens that reinforces both gender and racial stereotypes. The teens look forward to their futures. For the boys, these involve future career success — notice the African American teen dreams of being a famous athlete, while the White […]
Archive | March, 2012
Student Run Investment Portfolios: Beyond Stock Picking
James McRitchie, 03/29/2012 ,
Reflecting on my Experience on the Blyth Fund got me thinking about the 6,000 plus university-based student-run investment funds in the U.S. Many are moving away from pure stock-picking to consider sustainability and social issues. What if they also started looking at corporate governance and began (more…)
Whistleblower Systems Examined in Conference Board Report
James McRitchie, 03/28/2012 ,
Fredrick D. Lipman provides several insights to Conference Board readers drawn from his recent book Whistleblowers: Incentives, Disincentives, and Protection Strategies (Wiley Corporate F&A). . (more…)
Upcoming Shareowner Meetings
James McRitchie, 03/27/2012 ,
Powered by Jackie Cook’s Fund Votes, a handy list of upcoming meetings. Research voting guidelines and meeting dates (more…)
Where's the Boss? And What Counts as "Work"?
James McRitchie, 03/26/2012 ,
Last week the Wall Street Journal printed an article describing how CEOs around the world spend their time. The article drew on data from a larger study, the Executive Time Use Project, and relied on reports of time use by CEO’s personal assistants. The article indicates that assistants only tracked activities that lasted (more…)
SEC To Terminate E-Mail Address
James McRitchie, 03/25/2012 ,
Thanks to Broc Romanek’s recent post, Submissions to Corp Fin’s Office of Chief Counsel: Use Online (more…)
USPX Updates Model Proxy Access Proposal
James McRitchie, 03/23/2012 ,
Two weeks after SEC lawyers granted six corporations approval to exclude “proxy access” proposals from their proxy materials, United States Proxy Exchange (USPX) members are already submitting an updated version of that same proposal to other corporations. Updated language addresses the flimsy pretexts for the lawyers’ decision, as well as implementing improvements to the proposal […]
Video Friday: Brookings Discussion on Impatient Capital
James McRitchie, 03/23/2012 ,
Not long ago, many American investors held that innovation took time to develop and that capital needed to be “patient” to realize a reasonable rate of return. Today, the converse is true: there is now great emphasis put on short-term monetary returns and (more…)
Fund Votes: Great Resource for Proxy Research
James McRitchie, 03/22/2012 ,
Jackie Cook has revamped the Fund Votes website with a nice fresh look. More importantly, she’s added new features that make me move it toward the top of useful sites for retail shareowners, as well as for some institutional investors. As far as I know, Fund Votes has long had the most comprehensive (more…)
Board Evaluations: Rigorous Process or Kabuki Theater?
James McRitchie, 03/21/2012 ,
In recent years, virtually all boards acknowledge that an annual board evaluation is required by “best practices.” How that evaluation should be done, by the board members themselves or by outside “experts” still remains an open matter. And whether these evaluations, either internal or external, are in most cases useful in improving board performance or […]
Parsing the Vote: CEO Pay Characteristics Relative to Shareholder Dissent
James McRitchie, 03/19/2012 ,
That’s the title of a new report from ISS on the factors that contributed to significant investor opposition during last year’s say-on-pay votes at U.S. companies. From the summary: (more…)
Video: Lucy P. Marcus on Inside the Boardroom
James McRitchie, 03/17/2012 ,
Did I hear “goddess of best practice in the boardroom”? Marcus’ keeps getting better and better. In this brief interview, she (more…)
Video Friday: 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
James McRitchie, 03/16/2012 ,
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Starbucks (SBUX): How I Voted
James McRitchie, 03/15/2012 ,
Starbucks (SBUX) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on 3/21/2012. Voting ends 3/20 on MoxyVote.com‘s platform, which listed recommendations from eight “good causes,”including four consolidations. ProxyDemocracy.org had three fund families voting but is easier to view. (more…)
ICGN to Release Best Practice Guidelines on Political Spending & Contracts
James McRitchie, 03/14/2012 ,
After extensive consultation with global investors, the ICGN releases two new best practice guidelines: ICGN Guidance on Political Lobbying and Donations and Model Contract Terms Between Asset Owners and Managers. Said Christianna Wood, Chairman of the ICGN Board of Governors: In the post-global financial crisis environment few topics have received as much attention as asset […]
Webinar: Common ESG Metrics
James McRitchie, 03/13/2012 ,
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute will host a webinar to review the findings of a new study, Finding Common Ground on the Metrics that Matter, on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 11:00 AM ET. The report authors will review the findings and respond to questions. Register. Download the report (more…)
LA Trustees Round Up 2012: Retirement Security in an Era of Financial Constraints
James McRitchie, 03/13/2012 ,
Some scribbles from the recent LA Trustees Round Up. I was more focused on reporting the first day on governance issues. I took far fewer notes on the second day but they may still be of some interest to CorpGov.net readers. There were several additional inspirational speakers. I mostly listened and didn’t (more…)
Pushback From SEC Staff
James McRitchie, 03/12/2012 ,
“Stunning,” “arbitrary,” “unjustifiied” … “questionable”: these are some of the words individual shareowners are using to describe the SEC handling of six corporations’ requests to be allowed to exclude the USPX model proxy access proposal from their 2012 proxy materials.* This week, the Commission’s staff approved every one of those requests. Corporate executives routinely solicit […]
Video Friday: No Conflict Between Responsible Investment & Fiduciary Duty
James McRitchie, 03/09/2012 ,
Rob Lake, Director of Strategic Development for the United Nations-backed organization Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has years of experience in socially responsible investing. His SRI experience in Europe and the UK has (more…)
Whole Foods Markets (WFM): How I Voted
James McRitchie, 03/08/2012 ,
Whole Foods Market (WFM) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on 3/9/2012. By the time I post this, voting will have ended on MoxyVote.com‘s platform. However, you can still vote at proxyvote.com and you can still visit MoxyVote.com for recommendations from eight “good causes,” (more…)
No Proxy Access Vote at Textron This Year
James McRitchie, 03/07/2012 ,
The SEC granted Textron (TXT) no-action relief on March 7, allowing them to drop Ken Steiner’s proxy access proposal based on their decision that paragraphs 1-5 and 7 of the USPX proxy access template deal with (more…)
India's Cross Border Deals Point to Needed Reforms
James McRitchie, 03/07/2012 ,
To do more jumbo deals in a tougher world, Indian firms need to tackle a glaring area of weakness. This is their complex structures, which mean cash flows are spread thinly, and their dislike of issuing equity for fear of diluting their controlling shareholders. Both factors combined make it hard to marshal resources without resorting […]
Rock Center Accepting Applications for Journalist Program
James McRitchie, 03/07/2012 ,
The Rock Center Program for Journalists: A Primer in Corporate Governance brings together a small group of media fellows, selected from leading writers in business and finance, to attend an educational event in New York City, May 23-24, 2012. (more…)
CorpGov Bites
James McRitchie, 03/07/2012 ,
The Activist Investor – Why Companies Oppose Proxy Access discusses three possibilities: (more…)
Predictions for 2012 Proxy Season
James McRitchie, 03/06/2012 ,
Francis H. Byrd asked several of us in the corporate governance industrial complex to make predictions for the 2012 proxy season and beyond. I urge you to read the Laurel Hill Advisory Group’s pdf, Predictions and Expectations for 2012. Just a few brief highlights below (read the pdf for (more…)
LA Trustees Roundup 2012: Corporate Governance
James McRitchie, 03/05/2012 ,
As Laura Berry mentioned at the conference, this is an event to recharge your batteries. It is great to learn what others are doing. Of course, the list of things I need to do grows exponentially every time I attend one of these gatherings of mostly California public pension funds. Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer: Nothing I […]
2012 Forum of Corporate Governance for Listed Companies in Shanghai
James McRitchie, 03/03/2012 ,
More than 400 participants turned out for the 2012 Forum of Corporate Governance for Listed Companies, which opened at the Shanghai International Conference Center on March 1. (more…)
Nominations Now Accepted for NACD Directorship 100
James McRitchie, 03/03/2012 ,
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) opened nominations for the sixth annual NACD Directorship 100, which includes the Director of the Year and B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Awards. (more…)
Pai Backs India's InGovern Proxy Service
James McRitchie, 03/03/2012 ,
I had run across InGovern before – it provides corporate governance research and proxy voting services regarding public companies in India – but Mohandas Pai backs corporate governance research start-up in the Hindu Business Line really caught my attention. (more…)
Discovering Shale Gas: An Investor Guide to Hydraulic Facturing
James McRitchie, 03/02/2012 ,
The Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) Institute and the Sustainable Investment Institute (SI2) will host a webinar on Thursday, March 8, 2012, from 11:00 – 12:00 PM ET to review the findings for their new report. Register. (more…)
Video Friday: Report Securities Fraud
James McRitchie, 03/02/2012 ,
The FBI announced a new public service announcement featuring Michael Douglas, soliciting tips and information on securities fraud and insider trading. This is part of the continued push—and focus on a top FBI priority—to root out criminal (more…)
Social Media & Democratic Corporate Governance
James McRitchie, 03/01/2012 ,
The revolution is being tweeted. Social media have enabled political uprisings in the Middle East, the global Occupy movement and even a swift blowback against banking fees in the United States. A logical (more…)
Silicon Valley Exceptionalism
James McRitchie, 03/01/2012 ,
Hopefully, it can mostly be attributable to early stage growth but Fenwick & West’s Corporate Governance Practices and Trends: A Comparison of Large Public Companies and Silicon Valley Companies found significant differences between the (more…)