Many leading companies strive to follow best practices in corporate governance, demonstrating responsiveness to investors and protecting shareowner value in the process. Paradoxically these same companies often appear to leave their commitment to good corporate governance at the doorstep when they serve on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber). In so […]
Tag Archives | board
Moving Corporate Governance Out of the Fraternity House
James McRitchie, October 20, 2010 ,
Perhaps it takes the mass media to illustrate the skewed focus of corporate law. Here we have the [at least for now] CEO of Tribune Company, Randy Michaels, under fire for a lot of superficial things, such as an alleged frat house atmosphere in the company, while his role in the company going into and […]
Routes to Becoming a Director
James McRitchie, September 9, 2010 ,
Toronto’s Globe & Mail ran one of the better articles I have seen on the subject (How to land a seat on a corporate board, 9/7/10). It seems the Institute of Corporate Directors has seen a 25% rise in executives enrolling in its director education program, a series of courses to prepare graduates for serving […]
Mark Hurd's Termination from HP: Case Study
James McRitchie, August 10, 2010 ,
It’s ironic that the same week Jim McRitchie reports on lingering opposition to and attempts to circumvent the new proxy access rules Funds Preparing Candidate Pool and Proxy Access Avoidance: Subversive or Accelerating Preemption?, in part because of concerns that directors elected in this manner will focus on extraneous matters and private agendas, we see […]
New Resources: Sustainability Quotes, Crisis Timeline, Cal Corp Law & Proxy Access Avoidance
James McRitchie, July 26, 2010 ,
Quotes – The Business Case for Sustainability & CSR Reporting: Selected Quotes from the Business Community July 2010. Tim Smith of Walden Asset Management, offered up a helpful resource providing a selected set of quotes from CEO’s and company CSR reports on the business case for Sustainability and CSR reporting highlighting how they contribute to […]
Review: Rethinking the Board's Duty to Monitor
James McRitchie, May 25, 2010 ,
In “Rethinking the Board’s Duty to Monitor: A Critical Assessment of the Delaware Doctrine,” to be published in 2011 in the Florida State University Law Review (current version available ssrn.com), Prof. Eric Pan of the Cardozo Law School substantially advances the discussion of how corporate governance needs to be improved in order to minimize the […]
Common Law Power Struggle
James McRitchie, April 30, 2010 ,
The Rising Tension between Shareholder and Director Power in the Common Law World by Jennifer G. Hill, available at SSRN, explores the rising tension between shareholder and director power in the common law world. First the article analyzes key arguments in the shareholder empowerment debate, and current US reform proposals to grant shareholders stronger rights, […]
February 2009 Special News Supplement: Corporate Governance Roundup 2009
James McRitchie, February 27, 2009 ,
Yippee-i-o-ki-ay! From the conference flyer, I half expected Will Pryor, Director of the IAFF Local 1014 and conference “go-to” guy, to show up in chaps, especially with his e-mail encouraging attendees to dress casually. Well, maybe next year. Suits and jackets prevailed in the fashion arena but there was little in the way of pretense […]
Corpocracy and How to Get Our Democracy Back
James McRitchie, December 15, 2007 ,
One book on corporate governance made Ralph Nader’s list of Nine Books That Make a Difference: A Reading List for the Holidays. Here’s his brief review: Corpocracy by Robert A.G. Monks (Wiley Publishers) summarizes its main theme on the book’s cover-“How CEOs and the Business Roundtable Hijacked the World’s Greatest Wealth Machine-and How to Get […]