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corporate governance
by leon on January 7, 2010
Japan's boardrooms need to be overhauled says the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA).In a paper, commentators recommend bringing in more independent directors and fixing up the rules...
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corporate governance
by leon on June 22, 2009
About two years ago, I did a blog entry predicting that climate change would become a big corporate governance issue. Directors can get into all sorts of trouble for failing in their duty of care to ...
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corporate governance
by leon on February 27, 2009
Last month, I did a blog entry slagging off at the Apple board and its total failure of corporate governance, keeping shareholders in the dark about Steve Jobs, his health and the likelihood or other...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 22, 2009
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at why Steve Jobs' health was an issue for investors. It boils down to one simple equation: Jobs is Apple's most important asset and his health ...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 21, 2009
Satyam, labelled India's Enron, has raised a number of important questions. Not only about Indian corporate governance, which leaves a lot to be desired with The Hindu reporting that India is pla...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 10, 2009
I had a conversation with KPMG's global head of citizenship and diversity Lord Michael Hastings from London. He proposed a radical shake-up of corporate governance around the world. Read on.
SOX ...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 6, 2009
A fascinating proposal from the Relationships Foundation in Britain which would, if implemented, give corporate governance a radical overhaul in a way that we have never seen before.The foundation'...
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corporate governance
by leon on December 8, 2008
Last week, I did a blog entry condemning Robert Rubin's self serving claim that Citigroup's woes had absolutely nothing to do with its board directors. Not their fault at all, he said, especi...
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corporate governance
by leon on October 20, 2008
Further evidence that US regulators are not at all interested in fixing the corporate governance mess that helped speed up the meltdown.As part of the $700 billion bailout package, the US Treasury sa...
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corporate governance
by leon on September 24, 2008
More than two years ago, I did a blog entry on how climate change would turn into a major corporate governance issue.Now it's heading that way with pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commiss...
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corporate governance
by leon on August 7, 2008
Corporate governance is increasingly like a zoo! That's one insight that has come out of the 2008 International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) conference recently held in Seoul, Korea.AMP Ca...
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corporate governance
by leon on July 31, 2008
All eyes will be on Yahoo this Friday with the company's annual shareholder meeting. The meeting was supposed to be showdown between founder Jerry Yang and activist investor Carl Icahn until they...
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corporate governance
by leon on June 1, 2008
Hardly surprising but Exxon Mobil's leaders have defeated the descendents of Standard Oil's founder John D Rockefeller. For anyone wanting a bit of history, Exxon and Mobil were the bastard c...
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corporate governance
by leon on April 29, 2008
Call it the Sarbanes-Oxley effect.With Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, Flowserve Corporation and AB Volvo coming to grief over the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - that's three FC...
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corporate governance
by leon on April 9, 2008
Chinese stock markets seem to be headed for free fall. The bubble is deflating and the losses for investors make what's happening in the US look like a picnic, reports the Los Angeles Times' ...
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corporate governance
by leon on March 11, 2008
Late last year, I looked at the concept of Groupthink, the term coined by Yale psychologist Irving Janis that describes the situation when people act like sheep and just follow the crowd. No-one rais...
Read more of Tackling Groupthink: red flags and solutions
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corporate governance
by leon on February 28, 2008
More evidence that good governance delivers results.Portfolios with companies that have good corporate governance deliver 18% higher average share-price returns to investors than those without, accor...
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corporate governance
by leon on February 20, 2008
Late last year, I did a blog entry on how media mogul Rupert Murdoch was rewriting the rules of corporate governance by appointing Natalie Bancroft, a 27-year old opera singer with little experience ...
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corporate governance
by leon on February 12, 2008
Corporate raider and shareholder activist Carl Icahn plans to set up a corporate governance blog, according to news reports. There is nothing on The Icahn Report yet but Icahn says he plans to use th...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 25, 2008
In the past, I have done entries here and here looking at why Sarbanes-Oxley wouldn't work for non-profits and examining their governance challenges.But there are signs that non-profits are takin...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 16, 2008
Who is the youngest director in the US? And who is the oldest?The Corporate Library has an interesting breakdown of the demographics of US boards. As a snapshot of corporate governance, US style, its...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 15, 2008
How is it that despite all the focus on corporate governance and diversity, corporate boards all look and sound the same? Why do some directors get more board seats than others, and as a result have ...
Read more of Corporate governance 101: flattery will get you everywhere
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corporate governance
by leon on December 14, 2007
Last week, I did a blog entry talking about the problems charities and other non-profit agencies face with governance.Now a new book Forces for Good by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant det...
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corporate governance
by leon on December 6, 2007
So Coca Cola has announced that it's President and Chief Operating Officer Muhtar Kent will succeed Neville Isdell as chief executive.For the record, it's worth noting that in the 1990s, Kent...
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corporate governance
by leon on December 5, 2007
On one reading, not-for-profit have really lifted their governance since the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley.According to Grant Thornton's fifth annual National Board Governance Survey for Not-f...
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corporate governance
by leon on November 28, 2007
The fallout from the Enron trial continues. The case was so big, the malfeasance so horrifying in its depth and pathology, that one suspects the fallout will be around for some time. It resulted in S...
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corporate governance
by leon on November 20, 2007
With serious questions around the Securities and Exchange Commission's plans to revamp board election, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, it's worth looking at alternative proposals to i...
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corporate governance
by leon on November 9, 2007
Rupert Murdoch continues to rewrite the rules of corporate governance by appointing natalie Bancroft, a 27-year old opera singer, to the board of his global media empire. A mezzo-soprano who lives in...
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corporate governance
by leon on November 7, 2007
Good news and bad news for CEOs. The level of CEO turnover has eased back slightly but it's still insecure times for the top brass, according to the latest Booz Allen Hamilton study.CEO turnover ...
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corporate governance
by leon on October 23, 2007
Who does the company exist for? The shareholders or stakeholders such as employees, customers and suppliers?The answers are by no means clear if a new paper co-authored by Wharton finance professor F...