In the wake of the recent global financial collapse the timely new edition of this successful text provides students and business professionals with a welcome update of the key issues facing managers, boards of directors, investors, and shareholders.
In addition to its authoritative overview of the history, the myth and the reality of corporate governance, this new edition has been updated to include:
- analysis of the financial crisis;
- the reasons for the global scale of the recession
- the failure of international risk management
- An overview of corporate governance guidelines and codes of practice;
- new cases.
Once again in the new edition of their textbook, Robert A. G. Monks and Nell Minow show clearly the role of corporate governance in making sure the right questions are asked and the necessary checks and balances in place to protect the long-term, sustainable value of the enterprise.
Features 18 case studies of institutions and corporations in crisis, and analyses the reasons for their fall (Cases include Lehman Brothers, General Motors, American Express, Time Warner, IBM and Premier Oil.)
Autorentext
Robert A.G. Monks and Nell Minow are founders of GovernanceMetrics International, the leading independent research firm dedicated to corporate governance. Formerly principals of the Lens Fund and officers of Institutional Shareholder Services, Monks & Minow have also collaborated on two other books: Power and Accountability and Watching the Watchers.
Inhalt
Cases in Point xiii
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxvii
Introduction - How to Use this Book 1
1. What is a Corporation? 3
Defining the Corporate Structure, Purpose, and Powers 5
Evolution of the Corporate Structure 6
The Purpose of a Corporation 9
Satisfying the human need for ambition, creativity, and meaning 9
Social structure 10
Efficiency and efficacy 10
Ubiquity and flexibility 11
Identity 11
Metaphor 1: The Corporation as a "Person" 12
Metaphor 2: The Corporation as a Complex Adaptive System 12
Are Corporate Decisions "Moral"? 14
Are Corporations Accountable? 16
Three Key External Mechanisms for Directing Corporate Behavior: Law, the Market, and Performance Measurement 18
Government: legislation, regulation, enforcement 18
What Does "Within the Limits of the Law" Mean? 20
When and how do you punish a corporation? 28
Probation of corporations 29
The problem of serial offenders 31
Securities analyst settlement 32
What is the role of shareholders in making this system work? 33
The market: too big to fail 36
The corporation and elections 40
Citizens united 41
The corporation and the law 45
A Market Test: Measuring Performance 47
Long term versus short term 50
Corporate decision making: whose interests does this "person"/adaptive creature serve? 55
Another (failed) market test: NGOs 61
Measuring value enhancement 62
Gaap 62
Market value 69
Earnings per share 70
EVA ® : economic value added 71
Human capital: "It's not what you own but what you know" 72
The "value chain" 73
Knowledge capital 74
The value of cash 74
Corporate "externalities" 79
Equilibrium: The Cadbury Paradigm 79
ESG: Environment, Social Governance - A New Way to Analyze Investment Risk and Value 83
Quantifying Nontraditional Assets and Liabilities 87
Future Directions 92
Summary and Discussion Questions 93
Notes 95
2. Shareholders: Ownership 101
Definitions 105
Early Concepts of Ownership 106
Early Concepts of the Corporation 107
A Dual Heritage: Individual and Corporate "Rights" 108
The Reinvention of the Corporation: Eastern Europe in the 1990s 110
The Evolution of the American Corporation 111
The Essential Elements of the Corporate Structure 115
The Mechanics of Shareholder Rights 117
The Separation of Ownership and Control, Part 1: Berle and Means 118
Fractionated Ownership 125
The Separation of Ownership and Control, Part 2: The Takeover Era 129
Waking the Sleeping Giant 134
A Framework for Shareholder Monitoring and Response 140
Ownership and Responsibility 141
No innocent shareholder 141
To Sell or Not to Sell: The Prisoner's Dilemma 143
Who the Institutional Investors Are 144
Bank trusts 145
Mutual funds 146
Insurance companies 149
Universities and foundations 149
Executive pay from the consumer side - a leading indicator of risk 150
Pension plans 154
The Biggest Pool of Money in the World 154
Pension plans as investors 164
Pension plans as owners 166
Public Pension Funds 169
Divestment initiatives 188
Economically targeted investments 189
Afscme 195
Federal Employees' Retirement System 197
Tiaa-cref 199
Private Pension Funds 201
The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Shareholder Proxy Proposals on Governance Issues 206
Focus on the Board 212
Hedge Funds 220
Synthesis: Hermes 221
Investing in Activism 222
New Models and New Paradigms 223
The "Ideal Owner" 228
Pension Funds as "Ideal Owners" 233
Is the "Ideal Owner" Enough? 234
Summary and Discussion Questions 236
Notes 238
3. Directors: Monitoring 251
A Brief History of Anglo-American Boards 255
Who Are They? 256
Size 256
Term 256
Inside/outside mix 257
Qualifications 261
Who Leads the Board? Splitting the Chairman and CEO and the Rise of the Lead Director 261
Agenda 263
Minutes 263
Diversity 264
Meetings 264
Communicating with Shareholders 264
Special Obligations of Audit Committees 265
Ownership/Compensation 266
Post-Sarbanes-Oxley Changes 266
Board Duties: The Legal Framework 267
The Board's Agenda 281
The Evolution of Board Responsibilities: The Takeover Era 283
The Fiduciary Standard and the Delaware Factor 284
How did boards respond? 287
Greenmail 287
"Poison pills" 288
Other anti-takeover devices 290
The Director's Role in Crisis 291
Limits and Obstacles to Board Oversight of Managers 295
Information Flow 295
Practical Limits: Time and Money 301
The Years of Corporate Scandals - Boards Begin to Ask for More 302
Director Information Checklist 303
Who Runs the Board? 304
Catch 22: The Ex-CEO as Director 306
Director Resignation 308
CEO Succession 308
Director Nomination 309
Limits and Obstacles to Effective Board Oversight by Shareholders 318
Carrots: Director Compensation and Incentives 319
Sticks, Part 1: Can Investors Ensure or Improve Board Independence by Replacing Directors who Perform Badly or Suing Directors who Fail to Act as Fiduciaries? 324
Can Directors be Held Accountable through the Election Process? 324
Staggered boards 327
Confidential voting 328
Sticks, Part 2: Suing for Failure to Protect the Interests of Shareholders - Are the Duties of Care and Loyalty Enforceable? 331
Future Directions 331
Majority voting and proxy access 331
Improving director compensation 333
Increasing the authority of independent directors 333
"A market for independent directors" 335
"Designated director" 336
Board evaluation 336
Executive session meetings 336
Succession planning and strategic planning 337
Making dire…