Investing in Japan by Steven Towns carries the subtitle, “There is no stock market as undervalued and as misunderstood as Japan.” Towns might be right. He guides the reader to plenty of undervalued companies but (more…)
Tag Archives | international
Video Friday: 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
James McRitchie, 03/16/2012 ,
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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 […]
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…)
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…)
Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA): 2011 Enforcement Report
James McRitchie, 02/28/2012 ,
Key highlights of the 2011 Enforcement Report: 66 of the concluded cases involved illegal distributions, which represented (more…)
Top 10 Events in Brazil for 2011
James McRitchie, 01/30/2012 ,
Brazilian firms made important changes in terms of corporate governance during the last year. Kevin McDonald, Editor of The McDonald Lehner Report posts what he believes to be a list of the “Top 10 Events.” The article was published last week in Brazil (Investimentos e Notícias) and will appear this week in Chile (more…)
CII Contract with Equilar a Positive Step But More Needed to Address Pay Issue
James McRitchie, 01/11/2012 ,
Equilar, the leading provider of executive compensation benchmarking and research solutions, announced the release of its Pay-For-Performance Analytics suite yesterday, along with the fact that the Council of Institutional Investors (CII), whose members hold $3 trillion in assets, has signed on as the first client. According to the press release: By combining an innovative market-based algorithm to identify peer […]
Video Friday: No Legal Duty to Maximize Shareholder Value
James McRitchie, 01/06/2012 ,
Can corporations’ relentless focus on maximising shareholder (more…)
Review: Trust & Control in HRM
James McRitchie, 01/04/2012 ,
Trust and Human Resource Management, edited by Rosalind Searle and Denise Skinner highlight trust as key to human resource management (HRM) from pre-entry to post-employment. The collection will be of great value to academics in the HR field and to practitioners interested in enhancing trust levels in their organizations. Trust has long been associated with […]
FCPA Liability
James McRitchie, 12/31/2011 ,
Two recent developments bring the potential for individual criminal liability under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) back into the spotlight. These developments underscore the extensive reach of the FCPA, which can extend criminal liability to U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike and to circumstances where an individual does not have actual (more…)
Proxy Access Proposed at Six More Companies
James McRitchie, 12/06/2011 ,
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), manager of the $550 billion Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, has filed shareholder proposals for binding bylaw proxy access proposals at six US companies (Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, Western Union, Staples, Pioneer Natural Resources and CME Groupas) part of its efforts to strengthen shareholder rights. According to (more…)
HKEx: New Listing Rules
James McRitchie, 12/06/2011 ,
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“Exchange”) recently published its Consultation Conclusions on Review of the Corporate Governance Code (“Code”) and associated Listing Rules. The Code and Listing Rules amendments aim to promote the development of a higher level of corporate governance among listed issuers and bring Hong Kong in line with international best practices. They will […]
Two Strikes and You're in Australia
James McRitchie, 11/15/2011 ,
In case you missed it at theCorporateCounsel.net (Australia’s New “Two Strikes” Say-on-Pay Law, 11/3/2011): Under the new amendment to the Australian (more…)
Anonymous Analytics Examines Corporate Governance
James McRitchie, 09/30/2011 ,
Anonymous is “a decentralized network of individuals focused on promoting access to information, free speech, and transparency. The group has made international headlines by exposing The Church of Scientology, supporting anti-corruption movements in Zimbabwe and India, and providing secure platforms for Iranian citizens to criticize their government.” Anonymous Analytics, a faction of Anonymous has moved […]
Shareholder Democracy Summit Coming to Toronto: Blank Vote Issue
James McRitchie, 09/17/2011 ,
The Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries announces the Shareholder Democracy Summit ─ a Canadian first. CSCS has invited key stakeholders to gather this coming fall on October 24 and 25 in Toronto for an important national summit on shareholder democracy. CSCS President Lynn Beauregard announced today that invitations to register for the Shareholder Democracy Summit […]
Audio Friday: BBC Discussion on Corporate Governance
James McRitchie, 09/16/2011 ,
Peter Day asks what’s wrong with corporate governance. Business leaders make a lot of fuss about corporate governance, but the scandals keep on coming. In this programme, Peter Day hears from some leading authorities who makes several observations concerning nonexecutive directors, ownerless corporations, and the need for shareowners to sit on the nominations committees, a […]
Deadline for Golden Peacock Awards: September 14
James McRitchie, 09/12/2011 ,
If you know of good candidates for the Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by Institute of Directors in 1992, now is the time to get nominations in, since they are due September 14, 2011. Below are the categories: A. Golden Peacock Global Awards Sustainability Excellence in Corporate Governance B. Golden Peacock National Awards Climate Security Sustainability […]
Why Would Anyone Invest in China?
James McRitchie, 09/11/2011 ,
Francine McKenna writes that Deloitte Shanghai refuses to turn over workpapers and documents relevant to the SEC in their investigation of Longtop. “Chinese law prohibits Deloitte China from providing the requested documents directly to a foreign regulator,” said spokesperson Lauren Mistretta. “Deloitte China is caught in the middle of conflicting demands by two government regulators, […]
Review: The Corporate Objective
James McRitchie, 09/06/2011 ,
Although large public companies dominate the world, there is no unanimity as to their objective. Andrew Keay tackles this very important topic with skill and in considerable depth. First, he examines the two most dominant theories, shareholder primacy and stakeholder theory. Unsurprisingly, he finds them falling short and goes on to propose the inelegant but well thought out […]
The Esoteric Investor: Alternative Investments for Global Macro Investors
James McRitchie, 09/03/2011 ,
This book has nothing to do with corporate governance. I spent a couple of hours reading hoping to find a few possible investments to help me keep CorpGov.net going. Unfortunately, I found very little. The book only really reviews three areas: demographics, fish (focusing on tuna) and water. The demographics was somewhat interesting but not […]
India Against Corruption
James McRitchie, 08/27/2011 ,
Employees replaced their jackets with white tees imprinted with “India Against Corruption” slogan. On 24 August 2011, Bangroleans formed a 17-kilometer human chain on outer ring road to protest against corruption. Finally, the middle class Indians have discarded their cloak of apathy. Passion, enthusiasm and commitment to change the system is replacing cynicism, skepticism and […]
Slight Shift Away from Independent Directors in India
James McRitchie, 08/25/2011 ,
Quality independent directors are hard to find today. Ask Azim Premji. India’s third-largest IT company, Wipro, is about to join the horde of companies violating Sebi norms by keeping independent directors beyond the suggested nine-year maximum tenure. After the Storm: The Unregulated Effect of a Corporate Governance Crisis (more…)
India: Independence of Boards at Risk
James McRitchie, 08/20/2011 ,
Boards have become larger but controlling for other things, less independent (have fewer independent directors) after the crisis. Much of this seems to be the result of a “supply shock” in which independent directors have become more aware of the risks associated with board positions. In the three weeks of January 2009 after the Satyam […]
Review: Business Ethics and Corporate Sustainability
James McRitchie, 08/16/2011 ,
Business Ethics and Corporate Sustainability contains fourteen essays examining mainstream business models with the aim of designing more sustainable systems with regard to corporate responsibility issues, such as the environment and human rights, while reducing overall risk profiles and increasing legitimacy. Christopher J. Cowton, for example, examines the moral status of corporations, their collective responsibility […]
Risk Managers Needed on Audit Committees
James McRitchie, 08/13/2011 ,
Overall, the number of U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions increased by 85% in 2010. Over the course of the year the U.S. Department of Justice brought 48 criminal cases and the SEC filed 26 new actions. The trend has continued in 2011. In February, 2011, Tyson agreed to a $5.2M settlement. A […]
Parasitic Capitalism
James McRitchie, 08/03/2011 ,
The US can print the same money it borrows in. It doesn’t ever have to default as long as it retains this privilege. But its creditors now know that the US can’t be trusted. This is why America’s trusted friend and car pool partner in space, Vladimir Putin, has said Americans, “Are living like parasites […]
Sustainable Development Index Coming to Shanghai Stock Exchange
James McRitchie, 08/03/2011 ,
Last year, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) produced a report, the goal of which was to help the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) improve the quality of sustainability reporting by Chinese companies. While SSE was “one of the first stock exchanges to issue a directive for companies to publish a sustainability report,” IFC noted, “Existing frameworks […]
Extracurricular Reading
James McRitchie, 07/21/2011 ,
From August 2011 Harper’s Index: Portion of employers who say they conduct criminal-background checks on potential employees: ¾ Chance that an American adult has a criminal record: 1 in 4 Percentage of applicants offered undergraduate admission to Harvard this year: 6.2 Percentage of applicants accepted for employment on McDonanld’s National Hiring day in April: 6.2 […]
Video Friday: 6 Degrees Warmer: Mass Extinction?
James McRitchie, 07/15/2011 ,
Will we actually be frightened enough to do something more than install solar panels on our roof, buy a Prius and recycle our garbage? It doesn’t take an economist to understand the basic economic principle that you can’t grow an asset if you have destroyed the asset base. This fundamental principle seems to make perfect […]
IFC Integrates Corporate Governance Analysis
James McRitchie, 07/14/2011 ,
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, claims to be the first development finance institution to require a systematic corporate governance analysis of every investment transaction as part of its due diligence. According to their press release, all new IFC investments will be subject to a focused corporate governance analysis […]
Call for Papers on Institutional Investors & Sustainability
James McRitchie, 07/08/2011 ,
I’m on the editorial advisory board of the Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability series of books to be published by Emerald and so am helping them scour the world for contributing authors. The next book in the series will be edited by Dr. Suzanne Young, Associate Professor, La Trobe University, Australia, and Professor Stephen Gates, […]
InGovern Proxy Analysis Launched in India
James McRitchie, 05/25/2011 ,
A new proxy vote analysis service, InGovern Corporate Governance Platform, allows institutional investors to analyze various companies, follow the agendas of shareholder meetings, exercise votes and collaborate with other investors. Research based on “objective criteria” – Governance Radar – is also embedded into the platform, according to a press release from Bangalore. This is a […]
India: Class Action, Insider Trading & CSR
James McRitchie, 05/24/2011 ,
Companies Bill 2009 proposes to introduce the concept of class action suits for the first time in India, which would empower investors to sue a company for “oppression and mismanagement” and claim damages. Among other things, it also proposes to tighten the laws for raising money from the public and seeks to prohibit insider trading […]
Handbook on International Corporate Governance
James McRitchie, 05/11/2011 ,
Christine A. Mallin has edited an updated version of her 2006 book by the same title. Contributors are all well respected authorities and include: C.L. Ahmadjian, M. Ararat, L. Cabeza-García, M.J. Conyon, S.B. Dahiya, S. Gaia, J. Gillies, P.-Y. Gomez, S. Gómez-Ansón, M. Huse, R.P.C. Leal, C.A. Mallin, L. McGregor, A. Melis, O. Melitonyan, A. […]