Directors & Boards articles from January 2000

Directors & Boards archives from January 2000

What's a small-cap to do?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... RECORD SALES, record earnings, umptiump straight quarters of EPS growth -- "Yet our stock has gone down...What more can we do?" Listening to directors of small-cap companies, I hear a note of resignation; they're frustrated, yet resigned, to...

The new old thing.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... YOU CAN'T BUT HELP hearing and reading about dot-com companies no matter where you turn. What you haven't read or heard much about is dot-com governance. That is changing. DIRECTORS & BOARDS, as well as our fellow governance scribes and...

The politics of market cap destruction.
January 1, 2000... Tyco's experience shows how the mere accusation of accounting impropriety can produce the punishing effects of guilt. DURING THE impeachment process, President Clinton bemoaned the "politics of personal destruction." The stock market...

Despite 25 years of work -- no silver bullet.
January 1, 2000... Do we merely have a collection of "okay practices that maybe you'd like to consider -- or maybe not"? Perhaps so. THESE PAST 25 years have brought forth a prodigious parade of panels and commissions and committees, each devoted to the...

How will you recruit for audit committees?
January 1, 2000... New rules will make this more difficult, but an enhanced D&O policy can help. THIS YEAR, public-company boardrooms will feel the impact of a spate of new rules intended to enhance audit committee effectiveness and the reliability of...

Excuse me while I cut in.
January 1, 2000... Worried about the problem of selective disclosure, the SEC comments on dancing with analysts. IN AN OCTOBER 18, 1999, speech to the Economic Club of New York, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt brought out the heavy artillery. Raising as a target...

The tremendous power of communications.
January 1, 2000... Shakespeare furnishes several vital lessons that apply to corporate communicators today. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE had much to say to the 21st century board member. All those involved in corporate boards can understand Falstaff's sentiment...

1999 Responsibilities of Corporate Officers and Directors Under Federal Securities Laws.(Review)
January 1, 2000... By James Hamilton and Ted Trautmann Published by CCH Inc., Chicago, 285 pages, $60.00 IT TAKES special skill for experts to communicate knowledge of their field to those outside it. That skill must be particularly deft when the field...

Leaders Who Make a Difference.(Review)
January 1, 2000... by Burt Nanus and Stephan M. Dobbs Published by Jossey-Bass Pulishers, San Francisco, 279 pages, $26.00 THOSE WHO approach Leaders Who Make A Difference with the notion that the leadership requirements in nonprofit organizations are...

'We are playing with courage'.
January 1, 2000... Thomas J. Donohue has put the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce back in the ball game of business advocacy. Look out, regulatory oversteppers and opponents of free trade. POLICE SWAT TEAMS firing tear gas[ldots]thousands of protestors chanting...

Trading with China: The reality.
January 1, 2000... How to go about setting up a business in China -- without taking too many hits in the process. ALMOST 150 YEARS AGO in California, and about 100 years ago in Alaska, the discovery of gold lured thousands to seek fortunes that seemed all...

Regaining credibility after a crisis.
January 1, 2000... Facing horrific problems of fraud and deceit, here are the steps Cendant management took to preserve the corporation. IN DECEMBER 1999, some 20 months after massive accounting irregularities were first uncovered, Cendant Corp. achieved a...

Ten steps to avoiding a restatement.
January 1, 2000... The shockwaves resulting from a restatement reach right into the boardroom. Here is how you may lessen the likelihood that such a disaster will occur. AS THE 21ST CENTURY DAWNS, there are few words that have come to be as dreaded...

Let's vote for the audit committee.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Not the auditors. That is, if the objective is to provide shareholders closer linkage with the audit process and related financial oversight. ANOTHER PROXY SEASON is now upon us -- one that will doubtless bear with it another round of...

Executive pay and its critics.
January 1, 2000... Here are some smart steps a board and a CEO can take to help avoid feeling the heat on the pay issue. EVERY YEAR, as predictably as death and taxes, yet another example of "obscene" executive pay is spread across the pages of The Wall...

Escaping the quarterly EPS trap.
January 1, 2000... The key is to give Wall Street the cash flow information it needs. Here are the five most important actions companies can take. WHY DO STOCK PRIECS swing wildly over pennies of quarterly earnings per share? A company's value is not based on...

Director pay at Internet companies.
January 1, 2000... Since cash compensation is typically not provided, directors' pay packages are being oriented to highly leveraged equity opportunities. SWEAT EQUITY is nothing new. Providing equity to a start-up company's founding management has become...

A 'snapshot in time' of Internet boards.
January 1, 2000... Are dot-com boards really a breed apart from traditional boards? As this baseline survey shows, they clearly have distinguishing characteristics. SPENCER STUART is certainly no stranger to the corporate governance scene. In business for...

Board Excellence Award bestowed on Sunoco Inc.
January 1, 2000... THE WHARTON SCHOOL of the University of Pennsylvania and Spencer Stuart, the international executive search firm, jointly selected the board of directors of Sunoco Inc. to receive the fourth annual Board Excellence Award. Sunoco, based in...

Directors Roster.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2000... In affiliation with Spencer Stuart -- a quarterly record of new director appointments SINCE THE Directors Roster provides definitive answers to the questions, "Where do new directors come from?," and "Which company boards are recruiting...

Linda Griego.(Board of Directors, Blockbuster Inc.)
January 1, 2000... Longtime economic and political strategist, and gutsy restaurant entrepreneur, brings her personal recipe for success to the board of Blockbuster Inc. DRIVING THROUGH the smoke-filled streets of Los Angeles, Linda Griego watched hopelessly...

Company Index.(companies and new members to board of directors)
January 1, 2000... Aames Financial Corp. ACT Networks Inc. ACTV Inc. Adelphia Communications Corp. Advanced Lighting Technologies Inc. Agilent Technologies Inc. AGL Resources Inc. Airgas Inc. All American Semiconductor Inc....

A well-connected feel for the company.(board mentoring program)
January 1, 2000... Profile of a board mentoring program that matches directors with specific operating divisions. EARLY IN MY CAREER, as a young chairman of a publicly traded company in the United Kingdom, I benefited from the counsel of more experienced and...