Directors & Boards articles from March 1991

Directors & Boards archives from March 1991

The director as servant and leader. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... The Director as Servant and Leader In reviewing different situations I have faced as a director, the many colleagues I have worked with, and the decisions I have been part of, both good and bad, a model of what I consider to be the ideal...

Fighting the good fight. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests) (panel discussion)
March 22, 1991... Fighting The Good Fight If only Ben Graham were still alive, he might not be so despairing of the investors' cause. There is a powerful bias toward action in the institutional investor community today. That action can manifest itself in...

'The governance system is sound.' (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... |The Governance System Is Sound' A most visible and vocal spokesman among U.S. chief executives on corporate governance issues is H.B. Atwater Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Mills Inc. He has addressed in many forums...

What I look for in corporate performance. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... What I Look For in Corporate Performance Because this is a serious, but not solemn, publication, I may perhaps be forgiven certain lapses from scholarly rigor and precision in what follows. I want to offer some perspective on management...

Governance lessons from abroad. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Governance Lessons From Abroad Questions regarding corporate governance in non-U.S. markets are growing as fast as U.S. investors' non-U.S. portfolios. Help is already here for the most fundamental task - helping U.S. investors vote their...

The shareholder advisory committee. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... The Shareholder Advisory Committee Who owns GM? What about IBM? Xerox? The chances are that, with any given major U.S. company, the answer to this ownership question is found in two words, two words that are creating shockwaves throughout...

Take the high ground on director selection. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Take the High Ground On Director Selection Not since the days when Harold Williams was Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission has there been as much discussion regarding the definition, as well as the performance, of an...

A vision of value-based governance. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... A Vision of Value-Based Governance Lots of us should be ashamed of ourselves. Through one of the biggest merger waves in history, we've managed to do two things simultaneously: pay huge amounts of "protection money" to takeover defense...

Crafting a shareholder voting rights policy. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Crafting a Shareholder Voting Rights Policy One of the most important decisions a public company must make concerns the voting rights of its shareholders. From the vantage point of the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. (NASD),...

What investors want executive pay to do. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... What Investors Want Executive Pay To Do Institutional investors are a new and important force in executive compensation. Traditionally, executive compensation had been within the exclusive purview of senior management and the board - the...

How to avoid negative votes on pay plans. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... How to Avoid Negative Votes on Pay Plans In conjunction with their growing influence on many areas of corporate governance, institutional shareholders have become increasingly involved in the issue of officers' compensation in publicly...

Put managements' own capital at risk. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Put Managements' Own Capital at Risk It was an astonishing statement! The chief executive of a multibillion dollar industrial company had just said his management was not trying to maximize the value of the company for shareholders. Over the...

Dealing with debtholders. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Dealing With Debtholders The 1980s taught American corporate managers an important lesson: the importance of managing for public ownership. The combined forces of takeover mania, junk bond financing, institutional activism, and a stock...

Time to retarget the individual investor. (Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests)
March 22, 1991... Time to Retarget The Individual Investor Where have all the individuals gone? Individuals no longer are the movers and shakers of the U.S. stock market, but they're still the rock. While institutions account for about two-thirds of daily...

D&O insurance: not buyer friendly. (Directors and Officers)(Chairman's Agenda: Balancing Shareholder Interests) (column)
March 22, 1991... D&O Insurance: Not Buyer Friendly Corporate executives face increasing exposure to costly litigation about the quality of their performance. Corporations must protect their key managers from unwarranted personal liability threats. Directors...

Tip sheet for Eastern Europe. (column)
March 22, 1991... Tip Sheet For Eastern Europe Even if investing in Eastern Europe means taking lumps early on, many Western companies may not have much choice if they want to defend or strengthen their competitive positions in world markets. When all of the...

Charles Wohlstetter, Contel Corp. (column)
March 22, 1991... Charles Wohlstetter, Contel Corp. I am probably only a minor league curmudgeon. But the general definition of curmudgeon - someone who is crusty, irritable, and mean-spirited - is all wrong. Actually, a curmudgeon is somebody who detests...