Employees owning 3–20% of a public company isn’t a feel‑good fringe idea—it’s one of the most underused tools we have to boost performance and democratize capitalism. Across the best empirical studies of U.S. public firms, small but meaningful employee ownership stakes and broad‑based stock options are associated with higher valuations and, in many cases, better […]
As I get older, I (James McRitchie) reflect on where some of my thoughts on corporate governance originated, especially as I lament not only our lack of progress but also our recent backsliding. Where did I/we go wrong? Nell Minow’s Keynote to ICGN this year prompted more such reflections and offers rays of hope. (more…)
What better way to bring in the new year than to get advice from Nell Minow, the Queen of Good Corporate Governance, especially with the Trump Administration about to begin? In the talk below, Minow addresses an audience sponsored by the Center for Study of Responsive Law, which held its second four-day conference on securing […]
John Carney, the CNBC.com business journalist, doesn’t like shareholder democracy. He argues that reforms, such as say on pay rules, which give shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation, won’t improve corporate governance anymore than electoral reforms have improved our government. But his views are based on antiquated notions about shareholders, and a distorted view […]
Regarding CEO pay, Nell Minow recently wrote, “there is a little flicker of light at the end of the long, dark tunnel of outrageous pay.” Her signs of hope: Required advisory “say on pay” (SOP) vote. Last year after a “no” vote, Occidental Petroleum’s board reduced the pay package for CEO Ray Irani and announced […]
Nell Minow was at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend to support “The Flaw,” a new documentary from director David Sington about the financial meltdown, and reported in Bnet on the way this year’s slate of films, both fiction and documentary, took on business. (more…)
The other day I included mention of a project by J.W Verret (Truth on the Market) who promises 16 posts in a series of strategies on how to avoid complying with proxy access once it is enacted. His postings are defended by someone I normally consider at least somewhat rational, Stephen Bainbridge. One of Verret’s […]
A consortium of 56 of the biggest corporations in America, including ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, and BP have united to spend over $500,000 in just a single local election to defeat Betsy Butler, running for the California State Assembly in the 53rd district. She’s supported by environmental groups. How is the consortium doing it? By linking […]
As the New York Times put it, “Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.” (Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits, 1/22/10) Off to the right on the blog site of CorpGov.net, we […]
Cornelis A. de Kluyver, an academic and practitioner with global experience, has written A Primer on Corporate Governance published by Business Expert Press. While not nearly as extensive as recent textbooks by Bob Tricker or Monks and Minow, this is a quick read that provides most of the basics for future directors and those who […]