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Shareholder Value Creation
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Case 5: Genzyme and related investors:
Objective of this case
The case focuses on corporate governance issues by discussing how the objectives of a large activist shareholder can potentially conflict with the core vision of the target company’s management.
Learning how capital investment and payout policy decisions can affect shareholder value creation.
The case offers an opportunity for discussion on how board composition and executive compensation may help align management with shareholders’ interests in a public company.
Genzyme reached record revenues of $4.6 billion in 2008 and was expected to generate an increasing level of free cash flow in coming years. But operational problems in one manufacturing plant had led to a warning letter in late February 2009 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which, combined with news on impending health care reform, had pushed Genzyme’s stock price from a high of $70.42 down to a low of $56.38.
Genzyme was being targeted by Relational Investors (RI), an “activist” investment fund that had a 2.6% stake in the company at the end of March 2009. RI had a history of engagements with the boards of numerous companies that, in several instances, resulted in the CEO’s forced resignation.
Ralph Whitworth, RI cofounder and principal, met with Termeer and delivered a presentation, arguing that Genzyme was trading at a discount.
He offered recommendations on how Genzyme could address this:
(1) improve capital allocation decisions;
(2) implement a share-buyback or dividend program;
(3) improve board composition by adding more members with financial expertise; and
(4) focus executive compensation on performance metrics.
Shareholder Value Creation
Table 1
Data in Case:
What’s a biotech company?
Rare diseases/genetic disorders/small populations FDA approval (expensive/slow/low probability)
Case pgs. 2–3
How do you succeed?
Orphan drug (seven-year exclusive) Intensive R&D/strong pipeline
Case pgs. 2–3 Case Exhibit 4
Genzyme’s business model
Diversified: segments (GD-CR-BI-HO) GD CR BI HO Other % revenues 53% 22.8% 10.6% 2.4% 11.1% CFROI 25.8% 8.8% Acquisitions ($ million 97–07) 12 1,943 942 2,081 596 Free cash flows (funding acquisitions): expected to grow
Case Exhibit 7 Case Exhibit 8 Case Exhibit 6 Case Exhibit 13
Genzyme’s financial strategy
No dividends and open-market repurchases (some competitors do!) No debt
Case p. 6 Case Exhibits 1 and 4
GENZYME AND RELATIONAL INVESTORS:
SCIENCE AND BUSINESS COLLIDE?
Table 2
Data in Case:
What is Relational Investors?
Activist investor (vs. Carl Icahn or others?) Engagement battles (% acquired, changes, length of stay?) Performance
Case Exhibits 10 and 11 Case Exhibit 9
Keys to success?
Industry expertise—CFROI analysis Focus: corporate governance Quick turnover: invest, make changes, exit!
Case Exhibit 8
Why target Genzyme?
Intrinsic vs. market value Free cash flow Focus on GD—CFROI 2.6% stake—is that a lot? other shareholders?
Case Exhibit 12 Case Exhibit 13 Case Exhibits 7 and 8 Case Exhibits 2 and 11
Shareholder Value Creation
GENZYME AND RELATIONAL INVESTORS:SCIENCE AND BUSINESS COLLIDE?
Table 3
Issue
Relational Investors’ Criticisms
Genzyme’s Defense
What Happened?
Capital allocation
Diversification outside GD (case Exhibit 6) is destroying shareholder value because non-GD segment’s CFROI low (case Exhibit 8).
Diversification is necessary and investments in biotech take long time to pay back.
Capital allocation committee (chaired by Whitworth); hold on new acquisitions; sale of genetics testing business (2010-Q3).
Share repurchase
FCF should be returned to shareholders in buybacks (see other firms—case Exhibit 4) when internal use generating less than cost of capital (case Exhibit 8).
Need FCF to make long-term investments.
Announcement of $2 billion open-market share buyback program and debt issue (2010-Q2).
Board composition
Need new board members with finance and accounting backgrounds.
Termeer needs board on his side in case of fight (as with Icahn in 2007).
Added to board: Bertolini, Whitworth, one Icahn director (Burkaroff) and two independent directors. (Exhibit TN5)
Executive pay
Incentives are based on revenue generation and not profitability.
Sensitive subject for Termeer and board.
Revised bonus incentive structure
Assignment of case 5
What is the business model for Genzyme? What does Termeer want for his company going forward?
See table 1 of case 5 in the case reading file
What is the business model for Relational Investors?
a. Or can Termeer manage him by agreeing to some of Whitworth’s demands but avoid giving into demands that might compromise the core mission of Genzyme?
b. If so why? How might those changes improve or adversely affect the company and performance?
See the table 2 in the case reading file
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Shareholder Value Creation Case Study Essay
Case 5
The business model is the treatment aiming at individuals with genetic diseases. Genzyme’s business model is diversified with five segments namely: GD, CR, BI, HO and other. Percentage revenue generated by GD, CR, BI, HO and other are….
What is the business model to the rational investor?
The business model of Rational Investor is concerned with profits and rational investor aims at companies with bad…
Should Termeer fight Whitworth?
Termeer should try to create a compromise for both his key missions for…..
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Corporate Environmental Responsibility
Environmental concerns have a significant impact on the success of companies today. For a business organization to sustain its competitive advantage, the company’s corporate manager has to stay ahead of the curve, positioning the company as environmentally responsible and focusing on environmental strategy. In this essay, a book report on the 2000 film Erin Brockovich and the 1996 book A Civil Action is provided.
Book Report: A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
The non-fiction book A Civil Action was written in the year 1996 by Jonathan Harr. This text is purely against pollution. In essence, this book is basically about a case of water pollution in the Massachusetts town of Woburn in the year 1980. After Anne Anderson discovered that her child is diagnosed with a horrible blood cancer known as leukaemia which is a rare condition, she sees a high occurrence of this disease in her city.
Anne then gathered other families and decided to seek an attorney to consider their options. They found Jan Schlichtmann as their lawyer (Harr, 1996). At first, this lawyer did not want to take this case because there was no clear defendant and evidence was also lacking. However, he picked up the case later on and found evidence that indicated the water supply of the town had trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination.
Apparently, the organizations responsible for this contamination included Riley Tannery which was Beatrice Foods’ subsidiary; a company called Unifirst; and W. R. Grace, a chemical firm (Harr, 1996).
Corporate Environmental Responsibility
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At some point in the court case, Schlichtmann got other lawyers to help him. Unifirst was the first company to pay fines and its management paid slightly more than one million dollars. However, this money was invested right away in the litigation against Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace companies. The case which the plaintiff has against W. R. Grace is very strong primarily because first, the lawyer has personal testimony of W. R. Grace’s previous worker who had actually witnessed dumping.
Secondly, a river between the tannery operated by Beatrice Foods and the polluted water wells make their contribution to the pollution less believable. The court found Beatrice Foods not guilty (Harr, 1996). Although Schlichtmann’s law firm looks forward to a much higher settlement, the horrible state of its financial position compels the firm to agree to a settlement for eight million dollars from W. R. Grace. The lawyer then disbursed the settlement to the affected families, excluding expenditures and payment for the lawyer – every affected family was given about $375,000.
When some of the affected families believed that Schlichtmann had inflated the expenditures for his own benefit, the lawyer agreed and surrendered more of his charges. Later on, this lawyer filed for bankruptcy after losing his automobile and mansion, and actually lived inside his office for some time. In the end, he decided to practice personal injury, civil and environmental law (Harr, 1996).
After examining sludge extracted from the wells, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report determined that W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods had both polluted the water wells. EPA afterwards filed its own court case against Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace basing on the new evidence. In the year 1988, Schlichtmann tried to bring up the litigation against Beatrice Foods once more, but the case was dismissed by the jury, which cited testimony from Beatrice Foods’ soil chemist.
Corporate Environmental Responsibility
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Even so, because of the court cases filed by the EPA, these two firms were in the end compelled to pay for a very large cleanup in the North-eastern part of the country, which cost an estimated sixty eight million dollars (Harr, 1996). Events such as the one illustrated in this book happen largely because big corporations are driven purely by profit with total disregard for the environment. They want to make profits in their business operations without caring about the negative environmental effects they cause to the environment.
Movie Report: Erin Brockovich
The film Erin Brockovich was released in the year 2000. This movie, which seeks to fight nuclear wastes, is founded on the factual account of a certain woman who helped in winning the biggest settlement that has ever been paid in a direct-action litigation. Julia Roberts acts as Erin Brockovish. The film’s director is Steven Soderbergh. Whilst working at a law firm which had in fact represented her in a previous case – a personal injury lawsuit – Erin Brockovich discovered a very strange thing: medical records inside a real-estate folder.
Erin then decided to make a follow-up on this issue and discovered what associated medical information with real estate transactions. Pacific Gas & Electric, a multi-billion public utility company, was purchasing homes that were believed to be impacted adversely by contamination of groundwater. After buying those homes, it destroyed them (Soderbergh, 2000). In fact, the contamination was as a result of the waste disposal practices of Pacific Gas & Electric.
Corporate Environmental Responsibility
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At issue was hexavalent chromium, a chemical which is carcinogenic and causes cancer. The firm had discovered this toxic chemical inside a monitoring well not far from its compressor station in the Californian town of Hinkley. In this region, groundwater flowed towards businesses and homes of Pacific Gas & Electric’s neighbours who utilized groundwater for various purposes including drinking, and some of those neighbours were becoming ill.
A number of people were interviewed by Erin and she found a way of getting copies of records that incriminated Pacific Gas & Electric and discussed this situation with Ed Masry, who was the boss in the law firm where she worked. Ed Masry and Erin then filed a class-action litigation, which eventually ended in an immense settlement of $333 million for the residents of the area (Soderbergh, 2000). Eventually, the industrial poisoning of the water supply of a southern California city which threatened the health of the whole community was stopped and a huge fine paid to the victims by the contaminating company.
The viewers of the film Erin Brockovich come to know that Pacific Gas & Electric contaminated groundwater and the company is actually to blame for disease and death that has befell the local residents. It was very important that Pacific Gas & Electric, a company which cut corners and contaminated the ground waters on which the local residents and communities were dependent upon for drinking purposes, was eventually held answerable.
In the past few years, manufacturing factories, chemical plants, in addition to other workplaces have breached water pollution laws on very many occasions. Such infringements include failure to report emissions to dumping toxins at high concentrations that may bring about various conditions and illnesses like birth defects and cancer.
Corporate Environmental Responsibility
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Discussion
Such events get covered up because clear evidence may sometimes be lacking and the affected people might in fact not be aware that they are being impacted by the contamination – in A Civil Action for instance, Anne Anderson was initially not aware that her son’s leukaemia was as a result of the water contaminated by TCE from a few factories in the vicinity.
Furthermore, such events get covered up because the culpable companies do not want the truth to be known since they fear litigation, fines, reputation damage and losing customers if they are discovered to be committing the crime of environmental pollution. For instance, Pacific Gas & Electric was purchasing homes and destroying them so that its crime is not discovered.
What needs to happen is that polluters such as Pacific Gas & Electric, Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace who harm the environment have to be held accountable for their actions. They are in violation of the Clean Water Act because they polluted the water on which many people in the region relied on. Big corporations such as these three are not in any way above the law.
Such companies should pay huge fines and the money for paying the fines must come not from the company’s clients, but rather from their shareholders. Furthermore, the companies should also be ordered by the court to run full-page adverts on state and national newspapers giving their apology.
Corporate Environmental Responsibility
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On the whole, business organizations should be fully committed to sustainable environmental practices and they should truly hold themselves to effective and proper sustainable practices. Equally important, companies should not say in their websites that they employ sustainable practices and yet still pollute the environment – such an organization would not be a sustainable company. Most pollution is linked directly to corporate enterprise. Companies should take initiatives to decreasing pollution and government regulations should continue restricting pollution.
References
Harr, J. (1996). A civil action. New York City, NY: Random House Inc.
Soderbergh, S. (2000). Erin Brockovich. Film.
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Corporate Personality
The concepts of separate corporate personality have provided the ground for companies to survive even in the absence of its original owners, provided they adhere to the companies act. Despite this, the company is limited in that it cannot enter a contract ultra vires. The global economy and businesses are built on the separate corporate personality. However, it has been established that corporate personality has been the vital cause of several frauds and a legal shield in the courts of law (Mohanty & Bhandari, 2011).
To achieve a compensation for a fraud, the fraudster needs to be identified together with the company that the perceived fraudster controls. Usually such a process is referred to as piercing the corporate veil. Currently, the Supreme Court has reviewed the ruling in relation to corporate personality. Of particular interest is the case in Prest v Petrodel, where the supreme courts provided a new definition to the law in respect to the corporate personality.
Whereas the courts have limited powers to ignore the limited corporate personality, the courts acknowledge that many other English law doctrines can be used to provide an alternative interpretation and enhance the justice system. This essay illustrates how the ruling in the case of Prest v Petrodel altered the law and its effect on the meaning of corporate personality.
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The background of the case can be traced from a man by the name Prest. He shared the matrimonial home with his wife and the operations of his businesses were limited to owning residential properties. When the marriage failed and they decided to divorced, his wife sued. However, he denied that the wealth in the company was solely his and she should not be sharing with anybody.
In the first ruling, the court applied the clause in the Matrimonial Cause Act to treat the assets of the company as if they belong to the man (Stockin, 2014). Therefore, the companies could not be ordered to transfer the property to the woman since they belonged to the man. Having lost the case at the courts of the appeal, the woman took the issue to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court overturned the court of appeal decision that and ordered that the properties be transferred to the women since the first judge had erred in his judgment. The courts could only transfer the assets that are actually owned by the husband.
Unlike the appeal court, the Supreme Court discussed the concept of the corporate veil at length while delivering the justice. The concept of corporate veil in this ruling provides the precedent that may be formally binding to future cases (Daehnert, 2007). Immediately after the landmark ruling, the courts of appeal had already indicated that attempts to widen the scope of the doctrine would be difficult or even impossible.
Despite the supreme courts attempt to pierce the corporate veil, it is associated with some limitations as the application of law is concerned. The first limitation of this attempt to pierce of corporate veil is that it will only be applied of the when there is no other legal method of achieving justice. This means that this precedence may not apply if there exist other mechanisms of achieving equivalent results.
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In this regard, it is only necessary to pierce the corporate veil if it is appropriately to do so. One of the supreme courts judges asserted that it is only necessary to pierce the corporate veil when all other legal remedies cannot be applied to provide justice in the courts (Hargovan, 2007). The other limitation to the courts power to pierce corporate veil is possible when the claimant fails to establish an alternative way to identify the company with its controller.
It was evident before the supreme courts that the accused had already established his company several years before he divorced his wife. In this regard, the evasion principle was not applicable in his case and this limited the ability of the judges to pierce the corporate veil. On the other hand, the existence of the resulting trusts also limited the ability of the judges to pierce the corporate veil.
Corporate personality is a legal concept where an organization acquires separate legal personality that is an organization is a separate legal person from its members (Hargovan, 2007). Therefore, an organization is able to have legal obligations and rights. Consequently, an organization can sue and be sued, own property, continue its existence despite change in membership, shareholders can entrust management to directors, right to sell, purchase and mortgage its property in its own name, and enter into contracts. In international law, legal personality is a prior condition for an organization to use its own name in signing of international treaties (Ross 2008).
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This concept of corporate personality has consequences to both the company and its members(French, Mayson, & Ryan, 2015). These consequences are a member’s liability is limited to the share amount they fully paid or the fixed amount a guarantee pays. As a result, a company cannot claim additional contribution from the members. The members are also not liable to cover debts that the company incurred as a separate legal person (Gray, 1997).
A company is at liberty to sue third parties, and even its shareholders. Members are not capable of suing on behalf of the company since it is a separate person with its own legal rights. A company’s property is its own, hence neither creditors nor members have any legal or interest in its possessions. Another consequence in this concept is that a company has liabilities and rights occasionally claiming human rights. The artificial personality does not go as far as giving it human rights, for example, it cannot claim compensation for hurt feelings (McAdms 2014).
Piercing the corporate veil has been a tight rope for the courts as they have to deviate from existing liabilities to do so. However, the cases such as the one Trutor AB v Smallbone provided the need for the courts to pierce the corporate veil. The Canadian courts have the power to pierce the corporate veil in their pursuit for justice. Such a concept is complete contrast to other legal concepts in the common law world.
However, it is emerging that Canada has moved from the British legal system and is slowly influencing the American legal system on corporate matters (Hargovan & Harris, 2007). The North American country has added a conceptual fog of veil piercing jurisprudence through their indiscriminate use of the agency concept. According to Daehnert (2007), the English and the German legal systems are largely based on the limited liability and the separate legal entity philosophies.
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Piercing the corporate veil is a situation in which a court does not abide to the limited liability law and holds a company’s directors or shareholders legally responsible for the company’s statement, debts, or actions. This situation arises when there has been a serious misconduct such as engaging in fraud, undercapitalization at time of incorporation, and other criminal activities (McAdms 2014).
For a long time, the case in Salmon still holds true due to its widely accepted concept of limited liability. Therefore, most English and the American courts have adopted the approach that permits companies to order the affairs by the use of subsidiaries as they claim for limited liability. However, such a concept prejudiced the creditors on the basis that they should not know the state of affairs before transacting with the company (Ruane, 2005).
Throughout the evolution of legal practice, the yardstick of prevention of injustice continue to hold much power in the courts as the judges continue to lean in favor of the decision that favors justice(Mohanty & Bhandari, 2011).
The case in Salomon provided the benchmarks that have been used for years to deal with the issue of corporate personality and liability of directors. The courts established that a member is a legal entity that is separate who is not liable for the debts of the company and his personal assets cannot be used to offset the company debts (Walters, 1998).
The case in Bottrill was one of the numerous attack on the virtues held in Salomon. This ruling in this was fair but left the sole director of the company vulnerable to legal consequences. Whenever other directors of the company are absent, the sole director is left exposed to claims to the claims that his company is operating in a sham contract of employment (Howell, 2000). Therefore, the principle in Salomon can be denied on the policy grounds.
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The rationale for lifting the veil has been observed by law experts for some time. According to Krishnaprasad (2011), lifting corporate veil is a rare and unprincipled legal concept that is often left to jurists. From the policy perspective, the concept of trading with the enemy might form the rationale of lifting the veil. However, the corporate veil is usually lifted to stop people from abusing the legal privileges of the corporate form such as the case of fraud.
However, it is hard to determine whether established company can abuse the concept of corporate form through breaking out hostilities. Theretofore, corporate personality is a privilege that is superimposed on the agreement between the company shareholders that is cloaked in corporate veil and can only be lifted in the case of abuse (Ruane, 2005).
Traditionally, the courts were very reluctant to pierce the corporate veil, unless there exist a compelling issue to do so. However, the courts are increasingly to disregard the autonomous personality of the companies to facilitate the course of justice. In order to uphold the public interest, the courts have strongly relied on the strict rule in Salmon v Salmon to preserve the veil (Nakajima, 1996). The courts have observed the principle of separate personality by noting that the body corporate lacks the basic characteristics of human beings.
There are several corporate structures around the world with different legal consequence. However, most justifications for limited liability no longer apply when the creditor requesting to lift the veil is an involuntary creditor or when there exists a controlling shareholder.
According to Krishnaprasad (2011), the burden of the cases entailing an involuntary creditor and controlling shareholder should be put on the shareholder having potential control of the company to show that he exercises actual control. Such a system is likely to create incentives on the shareholders to invest in socially productive monitoring that activates the social sensitivity of corporations.
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The law in Salomon provided the basis cornerstone of the corporate personality. However, it is evident that the law has been evolving over the years as the court seeks justice. The extent by which the courts will pierce the corporate veil depends whether they are applying the common law of the statutes. For the courts applying the common law, they would only pierce the veil on exceptional circumstances.
On the other hand, there are statutory provisions where the veil can be pierced. From the case laws, it is evident that the courts have the power to pierce the veil or even lift the veil. The recent decision by the Supreme Court in Prest to revisit the issue of corporate veil brought a new concept with consequences in legal practice. In this case, the courts addressed the controversial issue of corporate personality by concealment and evasion principles.
The Supreme Court decision brought the concept that the remedy can be sought from a different position and provides alternative legal base on which equivalent remedy can be provided. In this regard, the courts will have alternative legal routes to make decisions in the vast majority of the corruption and fraud cases. The implication is that the courts should be left free to pierce or lift the veil upon observing certain criteria that falls within the evasion principle and if it is necessary to do so.
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Sneha Mohanty & Vrinda Bhandari, (2011) “The evolution of the separate legal personality doctrine and its exceptions: a comparative analysis”, Comp. Law. 2011, 32(7), 194-205
Krishnaprasad, K.V (2011) “Agency, limited liability and the corporate veil”, Comp. Law. 2011, 32(6), 163-165
Adrian Walters, (1998) “Corporate veil”, (Company Lawyer), Comp. Law.,19(8), 226-227.
Gray, (1997), “SIB attempts to pierce the corporate veil”,(Company Lawyer),Vol 18 No 7,page 217).
Anil Hargovan, (2007) “Piercing the corporate veil in Canada: a comparative analysis”, (Company Lawyer), Comp. Law, 28(2), 58-62.
Alexander Daehnert, (2007), “Lifting the corporate veil: English and German perspectives on group liability”, (International Company and Commercial Law Review), I.C.C.L.R. 2007, 18(11), 393-403.
Laura Stockin (2014), “Piercing the corporate veil: reconciling R. v Sale, Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd and VTB Capital Plc v Nutritek International Corp” Comp. Law. 2014, 35(12), 363-366
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The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility and its relation to business can be viewed as the voluntary activities that a company engages in with the aim of ensuring that economic, environmental and social goals of the society are achieved besides profit making.
When a company carries out its functions in a manner that impacts the economic, environmental, and social aspects and in a transparent way in the society, they are in a position of succeeding since this encourages the element of shared values (Habel, Schons, Alavi, & Wieseke, 2016). This therefore points out to the fact that the mitigation of social, economic and environmental risk factors remains one of the essential ingredients in the success of different businesses.
Conflicts that Corporate Social Responsibility Creates For Corporations
It is essential to consider the fact that one of the conflicts that Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) creates for corporations is in relation to corporates the chosen levels of the expenditures in running these programs that may tend to be greater than the elements that maximize a company’s value (Habel, et.al.2016). This therefore may prove to be negatively connoted since it has the capacity to decrease the value of a company’s shareholders. Additionally, these conflicts are bound to promote the element of social agendas that may also be viewed positively.
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Shareholders & Stakeholders Conflicts in a Corporation
It is essential to consider that the shareholders and stakeholders have different conflicts within a corporation. In consideration of the shareholder and stakeholder theories, it is vital to note that these two functions have the capacity to dictate what a corporates role has to be in CSR(Mishra, & Modi, 2016). The shareholder theory therefore holds that the shareholders need to advance funds to the company’s managers who are tasked with the responsibility of spending the funds as accorded by the shareholders.
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On the other hand, the stakeholder theory asserts that the interests of corporates stakeholders need to be considered even in the even that this has the capacity to reduce the profitability of a company. The conflict therefore arises in relation to the definition of roles and functions between the shareholders and the stakeholders (Mishra, & Modi, 2016). On the other hand, conflicts are also bound to rise when the needs of the stakeholders compromise the expectations of the shareholders.
It is essential to determine the fact that corporations have the capacity of being socially responsible considering the fact that this is an element that points out to their clients on how they are dedicated which goes along with the company’s reputation.
Business Practicing Corporate Social Responsibility
RELX Group is one of the company’s that offers CRS to its employees by offering them opportunities to develop in order to reach their full potential. Through this, the company is in a position to justify their expenditures in meeting these purposes (Mishra, & Modi, 2016). Through this trainings, it has been established that the lives of the people within the community are impacted, a factor that has urged this company’s commitment of this course.
Mishra, S., & Modi, S. B. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Wealth: The Role of Marketing Capability. Journal of Marketing, 80(1), 26-46. doi:10.1509/jm.15.0013
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According to Date, et al., (2015) organizing function plays a vital role in ensuring the interpretation of the plans for the employees. The organizing function does dictate the form of leadership that the organization will employ to ensure that the employees are motivated to work towards the achievement of the goals. Finally, the controlling function comes into play to ensure that the plans are implemented and in the case of deviation corrective measures are employed as indicated in the plan. The paper will focus on the implementation of the organizing, leadership and be controlling aspects of the P-O-L-C model in the evaluation of the Galaxy Toys Inc. production of MMTJE1 toys.
Galaxy Toys Inc Goals
The first goal that Yu should focus on is putting in place measures that will make sure that the prototype toy trials are completed and approved by the quality control by 31st October 2017 (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017). The first goal will set the baseline for the implementation of the other goals. The first task to be carried out is the advertisement, interviewing, employment and the training of the new employees. The employees that are needed by Galaxy Toys incorporation are a computer expert and an IT person who will play a major role in utilizing the 3D machine operator in the prototype toy trials.
The second goal deals with commencing the production of MMJTEI toys by January 2018 (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017). The first task that will be carried out is ensuring that the organizational structure is created and shared by all the members. The second tasks deal with identifying the people who will be in charge of the production process to ensure the production process will meet the set completion deadline.
The third goal involves ensuring that each plant does produce a total of 375,000 toys (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017). The first task deals with setting the daily production targets. The second task deals with introducing multiple shifts to make sure the employees have the energy to continue production. The third task deals with ensuring that there is constant supervision of the employees.
The fourth task deals with ensuring that the infrastructure required to facilitate the production is set in place. For example, there should be a backup generator to power up the plant in case electricity is not present. Lastly, the management should introduce incentives to motivate the employees to work toward achieving the 31st May 2018 production date.
The last goal deals with ensuring that the shipment of the toys to the customers starts in June 2018 (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017). The first task is making sure that the toys are properly packaged and labeled. The second task deals with tallying the orders with their suppliers to ensure that the correct amount of toys are delivered to their retailers and wholesalers. The third task deals with making sure that they have the infrastructure to deliver the toys to their distributors. The fourth task deals with carrying out intensive marketing to ensure that the customers are not only aware of the availability of the products but also the set prices. The last task deals with documenting the products that are leaving the warehouse and labeling the destination point on the boxes.
The last goal deals with ensuring that the shipment of the toys to the customers starts in June 2018 (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017). The first task is making sure that the toys are properly packaged and labeled. The second task deals with tallying the orders with their suppliers to ensure that the correct amount of toys are delivered to their retailers and wholesalers. The third task deals with making sure that they have the infrastructure to deliver the toys to their distributors. The fourth task deals with carrying out intensive marketing to ensure that the customers are not only aware of the availability of the products but also the set prices. The last task deals with documenting the products that are leaving the warehouse and labeling the destination point on the boxes.
The moral decline at Galaxy Toys incorporation can be attributed to the introduction of the 3D machine printer that did increase the speed of toy production. The printer is accurate and has reduced the time taken in the toy production process. The aspect has instilled fear among the workers that they will end up losing their jobs to the technology that was being introduced (Galaxy Toys Inc., 2017).
The decrease in employee motivation is as a result of the change introduced in the organization can lead to the delay in the production dates which will affect the achievement of the set objectives and goals. Also, it can give rise to an increase in employee turnover or absenteeism, which will impact the success of Galaxy Toys inc in the industry (Beckmann, 2012) negatively.
The management needs to hire more employees to deal with the employee shortage in various areas of the plant. Hiring new personnel does increase efficiency and the injection of new skills that are essential in improving the production process at Galaxy Toys Inc. Secondly, the company needs to invest in the training of the employees. Equipping employees with new skills increases their confidence in operating the 3D machinery which goes a long way to increase the production process.
The first case presents a scenario where the company is in talks with the government of Vindalubia regarding the contract to construct a number of solar panels. In the course of the discussions, the Minister in the Ministry of Energy requests for payment of a “motivation fee” in order to facilitate the signature that will allow for awarding of the contract with the government in Vindalubia.
The discussion below is presented to the company’s CEO as an explanation of whether or not the firm should pay the “motivation fee” requested by the minister, implications of actions, a legal view of the scenario, as well as a recommendation of the decision the firm should make.
The meaning of a “motivation fee”
The Minister, by asking for a “motivation fee”, is asking for something of value to them in exchange for the signature. In this case, the term fee implies something of monetary value i.e. legal tender, is expected to change hands. The sole purpose of the exchange being as a means to influence the Minister of Energy to carry out a given action, whether legal or otherwise.
In this regard, therefore, the “motivation fee” is understood to be a bribe to influence the Minister to act in favor of the company by rewarding the tender to construct the solar panels in Vindalubia in exchange for a given amount of money.
Possible decisions and implications
Given the prevailing scenario, as well as the firm being in need of the contract, it is evident a decision is needed. The decision involves a choice of whether or not to present the Minister with the required “motivation fee”. Both choices have implications, and they ought to be addressed prior to making the decision.
If the firm chooses to offer the Minister of Energy the requested “motivation fee”, they will outrightly have secured the contract. This, however, at the cost of breaking the law, and, therefore, exposing the firm to possible litigation arising from the illegitimate transaction.
On the other hand, the firm may choose to ignore the minister’s request to pay the “motivation fee”. This decision drastically reduces the chances of the firm being awarded the contract to almost nil. This decision, however, maintains the ethical standing of the firm, and it may also choose to file a lawsuit against the minister for illegal activities of a public official in a public office. The prevailing recommendation is not to pay the Minister of Energy the prescribed “motivation fee” since it is not only unethical but also illegal.
Legal perspective and justification for the decision
As per Section 18 code 201 of the US code, ‘Bribery of public officials and witnesses’, bribery is understood to be the act of offering, promising, or giving, directly or indirectly, anything of value to a public official. In the context of the Minister of Energy as a public official, the above described act of bribery is committed in a bid to either influence the performance of an official act or to influence the official in an act of collusion or knowingly allow the committing of fraud.
In addition, the act of bribery may be committed when the exchange is done to influence the official to knowingly act in omission or commission of an action that is in violation of the law (Legal Information Institute, n.d.).
Case Study 2
The second case represents a scenario where the Government of Vindalubia has awarded the company a contract to construct solar panels. The firm has gone through the required process and signed the contract. However, in a bid to secure the contract, the company paid a “motivation fee” to facilitate the signature to award the contract as requested by the Minister of Energy in Vindalubia.
In spite of the payment of the “motivation fee” as agreed, the Government of Vindalubia terminated the contract a few months later. Below is a discussion that expounds on the scenario, shows a number of methods of solving the arising dispute, provides a legal perspective of the issues in the scenario, and provides recommendations on the choices and implications of the same.
The arising dispute and possible methods of resolving
The prevailing dispute regarding the given scenario between the company and the Minister of Energy in Vindalubia stems from the premature termination of the awarded contract to construct solar panels by the government. The firm may decide to address this dispute in a number of ways. Key among these is the use of contract law. This is the preferred approach proposed to the Chief Executive.
Possible decisions and implications
The use of contract law as proposed to the CEO of the company would suffice as an effective method of addressing the dispute between the company and the government. If the Chief Executive upholds this decision, the firm may choose either to handle the matter amicably between the parties involved out of court or to file a lawsuit.
The lawsuit may serve to expose the illegitimate and unethical transaction between both parties involving the payment of a “motivation fee”. On the other hand, the amicable settlement may result in a much better result that favors both parties.
Legal perspective and justification for the decision
The use of an amicable settlement, which is the decision of choice among both, should start with a review of the contract. This step allows both parties to review the terms of the signed contract that proves the existence of an agreement between the parties. For the company, an area of focus during this face should be the determination of contractual clauses within the agreement that stipulate the terms of termination of the contract.
Owing to the value of the contract, it should contain a clause or clauses describing the suitable provisions of the process of the termination of a contract (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). Any disputes should be handled, therefore, as per the clauses of contract termination.
Failure of the clauses within the contract to provide an amicable settlement of the matter, prevailing codes of contract law governing the US are useable. This step may invoke the need for an external expert regarding contract law. The law of contracts should provide sufficient guidance on the various violations committed in terminating the contract without communication between both parties (Legal Information Institute, n.d.).
In addition, the notice of termination section of the US code should provide guidance on the requirements and process needed to terminate the contract (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). If these terms are not sufficient to warrant an agreement between both parties, the company may choose to file a lawsuit against the government in spite of the prevailing choices discussed earlier.
Case Study 3
The third case presents a scenario where the Chief Executive Officer has concerns over the lack of a Ethics and compliance Program at the firm. The CEO tasks me, as the new Chief Compliance Officer at the company, to propose and develop a new ethics and compliance program for the firm.
Proposal for a new ethics and compliance program
For the most part, the ethics and compliance program is meant to provide general guidance on behavior, ethical standing, and following the prevailing rules. The introductory segment of the ethics and compliance program for the firm stipulates the need and importance of following all rules and regulations outlined in the various company statutes. In addition, the introduction section also outlines the individuals and stakeholders covered by the various codes of ethics and rules of conduct of the firm.
The ethics and compliance program outlines the offices where an aggrieved employee, distributor, supplier, or other stakeholder covered by the relevant rules is supposed to access help and have their concerns addressed. The ethics and compliance program outlines all the necessary laws that are to be adhered to strictly by all. In addition, the ethics and compliance program identifies and classifies all areas covered by the various policies. This allows for easier navigation and access to specific rules as needed.
Some areas of importance in the ethics and compliance program include the outlining of laws and regulations covering intellectual property, privacy, conflicts at the workplace, integrity and dealing fair, provision of equal opportunities, and laws that relate to safety, health, and the environment. These laws will relate to not only the firm, but must also fall within the legal framework established in Riyadh, and other laws that govern the operation of the construction industry in the country.
Proposal for corporate governance
The corporate governance section is meant to provide an overview of the managerial and staff structure of the firm and the roles of each level of authority. In addition, the corporate governance model delimits the communication structure regarding the information flow within the firm.
This corporate governance structure ties in to the proposed ethics and compliance program by availing information about the flow of communication from the various managers. In addition, the corporate governance helps by providing a representation of the various officials where a member of staff in the firm can access help about the various rules and regulations outlined in the ethics and compliance program.
Objectives of the ethics and compliance program
The ethics and compliance program serves to provide guidance to the employees of the firm concerning the various applicable laws at the workplace. The program creates a framework where the members of staff in the organization can understand the various applicable laws in a simple manner that is usually categorized and focused for their specific industry and region. In this case, for example, the US law would not suffice in the creation of the ethics and compliance program for the middle-sized construction firm in Riyadh (Peterson, 2013, pp. 1029, 1031 – 1032).
The ethics and compliance program creates a model that is useful for the successful integration of corporate culture and legal background on various issues regarding the firm. In this regard, the inclusion of a well-rounded ethics and compliance program and an intricate corporate governance structure provides a combination that provides guidance to employees on the various issues about the firm and the industry from both a legal and operational point of view (Walker, 2016; Verschoor, 2015).
Therefore, the introduction of the proposed ethics and compliance program as outlined earlier should serve to streamline operations, ensure communication flow, and provide the employees with sufficient knowledge of the existing rules and regulations that govern them in the workplace.
References
Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). § 1470.27 Contract violations and termination. Retrieved from Legal Information Institute – University of Cornell School of Law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/1470.27
Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). § 635.125 Termination of contract. Retrieved from Legal Information Institute – University of Cornell Law School: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/23/635.125
Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). 18 U.S. Code § 201 – Bribery of public officials and witnesses. Retrieved from Legal Information Institute – University of Cornell: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/201
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Corporate Governance Law
Introduction
Corporate governance refers to procedures, traditions, principles, institutions and laws that may affect the way a firm may be controlled [1]. The most important element in the corporate governance regards the nature and degree of obligation of people in the business and their efforts to cut down on the principal-agent predicaments. This is inclusive of the connections among the different people involved and the objectives for which the company is controlled.
In the modern business world, the major external groups of stakeholders include; debt holders, trade creditors, suppliers, communities and customers who are directly or indirectly affected by the corporations [2]. On the other hand, the internal stakeholders consist of executives, board of directors and employees within the corporation.
The following discussion will put more light on the corporate governance laws their origin under the combined code, theories of corporate governance and the role of shareholders in an organization [3]. Besides, the role of directors will be analyzed and the rationality as to whether the corporate governance should be statute based or code based discussed.
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The Combined Code
The Unite Kingdom governance code 2010 refers to situate of principles of proper corporate governance which targets firms that are quoted on the London stock Exchange. The rules of being quoted are provided by the statutory weight in the financial services and Market Act 2000.
The rules provide that all firms quoted must disclose all the information about the conformity to the code in their statements of accounts. There are principles adopted by the code to give guidelines for best practice [4].These principles must be adhered to unconditionally to enhance best practice.
This code’s origin can be traced back in 1992 when Cadbury issued a report in response to various major scams which were linked to United Kingdom’s governance failure. A committee was formed in 1991 on the eve of Polly Peck a major UK firm that went insolvent due to many incidences of making false financial reports [5]. The report brought to light financial matters, auditing methods and general corporate governance issues hence the recommendations that; there should a separation of CEO and Chairmen of firms.
Besides, the board of directors must at least have non executives with no interests in the firm. The report also recommended that the board must consist of non-executive audit committee. Though they were alot of controversies regarding the recommendations, in 1994 they came to be incorporated in the listing rules at the London Stock Exchange. The requirements were meant to be strictly adhered to by all. In case there was no compliance to the principles, the firms were to give reasons for the non-compliance to the principles [6].
In 1995, another committee was set up which produced Greenbury report that was to probe into the executive pay or compensation.The report later made recommendations that a remuneration committee was to be part of every board without the directors but the chairman inclusive. And that, long term performance related pay to directors was to be disclosed in the accounts of the company for which the contracts were to be renewed every year [7].
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Another committee that was recommended by Greenbury report was set up to review the reports earlier issued. This resulted into Hampel report in 1998 which recommended that Cadbury report and Greenbury report be merged into one to form Combined code.
The report made further recommendations that the non-executive leader was to remain the chairman of the board. Besides, shares held by institutional investors were to be considered in voting though compulsory voting was rejected. Similarly, the disclosure of all kinds of remuneration was to be adhered to, inclusive of pensions [8].
Furthermore, Turnbull committee issued a mini report which made recommendation that internal financial and audit controls were to remain under the jurisdiction of the directors. Following the collapse of Enron in the U.S, other mini reports like Higgs Review and Derek Higgs were issued which placed their attention on what the non-executive directors were to do in case they encountered problems within the reports from the company.
Financial Reporting Council later issued a stewardship code in 2010 with a new version of UK corporate governance code which then distinguished issues from another [9].
The compliance of the code is one issue to determine as to whether the firms adhered to while the reasons for non-compliance is another. A report issued by Pensions & investment Research Consultants ltd revealed that 33% of the quoted firms were in full compliance of the codes provisions. This was in reaction to the Financial Reporting Council paper that was released in 2007[10] .
The report further revealed that poor compliance to the code contributed largely to poor business performance. In particular the major provision of separating the CEO from the chair contributed to 88.4% rate of compliance. Recently, the Financial service authorities made a proposal that requirement to comply with the principles was to be abandoned but rather compliance to rules was to be followed.
This was after many recommendations that accountability was to be implemented via the market and not the law. The main reasoning was that if the shareholders conceded to noncompliance because it worked for them, they were not to be punished as a result exit of investors [11].
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The Berle-Means thesis
Berle and Means thesis revolves around the theory of governance in public limited firms in which there is separation of ownership and control from shareholders[12]. In this case the boards of directors are trusted to represent their interest in the firm. The theory stipulates that with time, there is so much absorption and dominance of the boards of directors that their responsibilities become less effective in which case the executives have to give an ultimatum say.
The Berle and means thesis places its attention on revolution by managers in which control of corporations changed hands from owners to managers [13]. Though currently policy of corporate control has now shifted back to owners in investor capitalism. Owners who are currently acting as stock market manipulators have recently risen to stress high level of control over the independence of the CEO [14](Brinkman and Brinkman, 2002; p. 403). This has practically gone into vicious circle to culminate into surplus profits by CEOs.
The effect that ownership and control severance as determined by the sense of ownership of equity stake firms and the sense of having the power to dictate the corporate policy, has had on the corporate governance analysis can be easily described [15]. According to the views of Monks and Minow[16] managers in public corporations have interests and objectives that are unique from those of the owners.
Alternatively, when there is lack of sizeable share by the shareholders to have an impact or influence on the directors and executives, the board may at this point apply agency cost which is initiated by managers who serve their interests to develop into a major concern.
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There are different market-oriented mechanisms like external directors’ monitoring, compensation based on performance and corporate control by the market to assist in aligning the management’s interest with those of shareholders [17]. Nevertheless, just like the shareholder value whole destruction in major financial corporations that were publicly traded in U.S in the recent markets, there can be persistence of major gaps in the accountability.
Therefore according to [18] the American corporate governance intellectual mission takes the form of seeking for Holy Grail in the organization which is a technique that connects ownership and control separation via putting in line the interests of the manager with those of the owners.
According to [19]diffusing ownership and control in the United Kingdom, depends highly on a pattern of companies that are publicly traded to make an argument that, high number of corporations in U.K have a bigger percentage of shareholders and the concentration of ownership in UK firms same as concentration of ownership of firms in other country’s corporations.
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Berle and Means predisposes that there is a thinning out in ownership and control; such that a significant portion of individual’s wealth has the interests in huge enterprises with which no one person has a major share. The proof on the ownership and control separation was nonetheless not made out.
It is clear that apart from a majority of firms falling out of the Berle and Mean’s theory, there was also others that qualified by attaining the bright line standard which was to describe the control by management. The rest of the management controlled roll comprises of firms where the control locus are uncertain.
The supposition that distinguishing control and ownership, is a turning point of corporate governance in the United States which has been put to too much criticism of late. The paradox is whether conventional wisdom was to be ignored but it seemed it could not be. While there is an argument that by 1900 there was too much dominance of unending capitalism in the U.S to a level that did not match with that of the European countries that were industrialized, there existed various publicly trade US firms.
This is because by that time ownership was starting to split from the corporations control especially in the largest firms. Through the trust divisions, banks have currently equity portfolios that are sizeable and representation on boards of different public organizations. Hence therefore it is difficult to observe the pattern changing[20].
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Parkinson’s theory of Corporate Social Responsibility
It is a form of corporate self-governing which is integrated into business model. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy operates as an in built in which a firm monitors and ascertains its active conformity with the law spirit, standards of ethics and international wide norms.
The main objectives of CSR are to embrace company’s responsibility, actions and promote a beneficial impact through its activities on the surrounding, customers, employees, general society and all other stakeholders. According to Parkinson the theory of social responsibility came into common phenomenon in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. This was on the formation of the term stakeholders by multinational implying those whom a firm’s activities may have an effect.
Supporters of the theory argued that businesses get a long term gains by transacting their business with a point of view while those who oppose argue that CSR defrays from the fiscal role of business. The rest make arguments that CSR is a way of window dressing, in an effort to perform the role of the State as watchdog of multinational firms. Nevertheless, CSR is entitled to help companies mission as well as to provide guidance to what firms may stands for while promoting the interests of its consumers [21]
Developing business ethics is one way of applied ethics that establishes ethical norms and morals that can emanate in a business setting. There are different approaches that were observed by Parkinson as principles for responsible investment. These are described below;
Philanthropy approach; which comprise of donations of money and aid to local groups and communities that are impoverished. Some companies do not prefer this approach because of its inability to build and develop skills among the local people. This is opposed to community development which sustains development in the community.
Another approach consists of CSR to integrate CSR strategy straightaway into business plan of a company. For example establishment of fair trade which has been adapted by various organizations as it enhances commitment to the community. The other approach is heightening the corporate responsibility interest which is commonly referred to as creation of shared value [22]. This is based on the fact that social welfare and success of organizations depend upon each other.
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The potential benefits to business
The benefits accrued to CSR for a firm usually vary depending on the characteristics of the enterprise. The nature maybe difficult to quantify and as such there are high advocacy for measures to be adopted beyond financial benefits. Parkinson found a correlation between the environmental performance and financial performance.
Sometimes business may not look at the short run returns when formulating and establishing their CSR strategy [23]The following are some of the postulates that determine the arguments why businesses engage in CSR;
Human Resources: Through the CSR program firms can be in a position to recruit and retain employees especially in a competitive graduate student market. During interviews, potential recruits normally inquire about the CSR policy which can give an advantage if a firm has a comprehensive policy. This can help develop on the perception of a firm among the staff particularly when the staffs are highly active in the community development and volunteering.
Management of risk: This is a major concern for corporate strategies in which the reputation takes years to develop. Nevertheless, this can be ruined in a few minutes or hours through cases such as scandals in corruption or accidents related to environment[24]. In addition, unwanted attention can be drawn from courts, regulators, media and the government. In building an authentic culture, corporations need to do the right thing to offset the risks associated.
Differentiation of brand: In a competitive market place firms require to have an exceptional selling offer that can distinguish them from their rivals among the consumers. CSR can play a big part in developing customer loyalty which is based on the unique ethical values. Hence a business can benefit more from integrity and best code of practice.
License to operate: At most times, it is argued that corporations are normally keen to avert interference in their transactions through the regulations and taxations. Therefore they would take substantive voluntary steps in convincing the government and the general public that they are concerned with the health, safety, environment and the diversity of the community as good and dependable corporate citizens in respect to the labor standards and environmental impacts[25].
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The role and importance of directors
The directors are appointedon behalf of shareholders to carry out the daily running of the business affairs. They are mediators in the principal agency costs between the shareholders and the managers. In this respect they are directly accountable to the shareholders every year during the annual general meeting where they’re to give an account of the full business report in conformity to the principles of corporate governance [26].
Their role is to ascertain the prosperity of the firm by meeting the appropriate interests. The board of directors must also deal with various challenges and financial issues relating to corporate governance, social responsibility and ethics of corporation.
Periodic meetings must be held by the director board in order to discharge their duties effectively. Their roles include the following:
Formulating the vision, mission and core values of the firm. The vision is meant to set the momentum for the operations and development of the company. The values are meant to be adhered to throughout the life of the corporation. Organizational goals are to be determined and company policies are also to be set to guide employees and management in effective running of the business.
The board sets strategies and structure where the SWOT analysis of the firm is considered. This is in relation to external environment. The board prepares the options strategic to the objectives and in line with the vision and mission of the firm. Hence the firms structure from the top management to the subordinate, defines the way the strategies will be implemented.
The board of directors delegate duties to the management and supervises and monitors the implementation of the strategies and the policies inclusive of the business plan. In this respect they ascertain that internal controls are effective.
They also command accountability to shareholders and obligations to the stakeholders. This are perfected through constant communication with the owners and the relevant parties of interests. The board on the other hand takes into account the stakeholders interests and tries to balance them to suite other parties. This ensures high support of goodwill amongst the relevant stakeholders. The director’s work for the good of everyone; the company and all the stake holders.
Principles of corporate governance with which the director’s work
The principles that were recommended in the Cadbury and OECD reports revealed the following in good governance[27]
Rights and shareholders equal treatment where the firms must respect the shareholders rights and help the shareholders in exercising the rights through open communication of information and encouragement in general meetings attendance
The board and responsibility and roles; where the board requires relevant appropriate skills in understanding and challenging the performance of the management. It also needs substantial size and relevant autonomy and dedication to fully fulfill its obligations and duties[28].
Interests of other stakeholders; firms must realize their legal, social, contractual and market driven duties to other stakeholders which consists of; creditors, investors, customers, policy makers, suppliers, employees and the community [29].
Ethical behavior and integrity which must be a fundamental necessity in making a choice of corporate and board members. This ensures efficiency and proper code of conduct in promoting healthy decision making [30].
Transparency and disclosure; where the firms must always clarify and make all information relevant known to the public and the stakeholders with some level of accountability. The firm must also execute procedures to ensure and protect the integrity of the firm’s financial reporting. Clear and factual information must be accessible to investors on timely basis to enable them make relevant decisions that may be beneficial to the firm[31].
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Mary Stokes argument
Mary Stokes’s argues that a good company reporting is vital as it gives information to owners as well as other outside stakeholders such as creditors, employees and customers. This concerns all the people who may have interests in the company and its transactions and activities. The requirement for information is can be equally balanced against the company’s costs of gathering and publishing it.
This also constitutes the costs to the users of the information in searching for what they desire to get. Sharing and disclosing of information comprise of a substantial section of company law. The legislation and legal texts normally underscores to the user of the information, the meaning of the disclosure requirement.
Therefore this is illustrated in the codes of practice and books of rules of different institutions for which the firm may be related to in one or another like the Financial Services Authority. Many people are engaged or involved in the information disclosure which may be released in newspapers, reports, on internet or promotional strategies. The effectiveness of disclosure systems in UK has come into different uncertainty despite the prominence on disclosure requirement.
The uncertainty and criticism focuses majorly on the burden of costs complexities and absence of clear dimensions of evaluating performance at the same time poor modes of verifying the process and refusing to give the users of the information with the real information they need.
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In determining or pondering the over the disclosure issue, there should be assessment of the objectives of company law and role of disclosure. In understanding this concept, one requires to have full knowledge of the jurisdiction of companies and the company law in communication process. In particular the UK’s disclosure era is part and parcel of a legal system that makes assumption that owner have a centered model of the firm.
Mary Stokes provides a description of the different stages of a legal model by stressing on the traditional model which initially took directors of a firm as agents of the firm. Their power of control could at any time be retracted by the owners. At the same time, directors as agents were entitled to accept implementing specification s issued by the principals of the firm who were the owners.
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At later times the traditional model was abandoned where the directors were viewed as organs of the firm. The owners no longer issued directives to the directors on what to be done. Nonetheless the model issued power to shareholders to supervise the director’s actions and power to dismiss and appoint directors on the basis of merit. This implied that directors were under the official duty of meeting the interest of the owners.
Under no time could they place their interests before the owner’s interests. Mary continues to stress that legal model adopts two mechanisms of ascertaining that directors of a firm adhere to the controls of the shareholders. By use of internal division power in the firm the shareholders are able to appoint and dismiss directors at the same time supervise them while they are in office.
Second; is by use of fiduciary duties that expects of them to perform in the best interests of the owners. She makes an addition the collective purpose of legal mechanism is to impel managers and directors to maximize profits for their firm and bar them from maximizing their own interests.
Corporate Governance Law
Moreover, there also exist more beneficial reasons for system of disclosure than the mere avoidance of regulatory intervention. For instance, it could enable investors make more productive decisions concerning proper investment decisions and disclosure could shield them from fraud caused by the managers and directors. In addition, some experts propose that disclosure of information could subject the corporation to democracy hence allowing participants to make decisions that may be influential and more effective to the firm.
That more interaction with the disclosure requirements can bring more benefit to the firm due to shared perspectives and perceptions that can build the firm to higher levels of development and expansion[32]. Besides, the participants are able to make judgments and hence connecting accountability and participation.
Corporate governance should be code- based or statute-based
Statute based corporate governance was adopted from the US corporate governance regulation –[33]on responsibilities of the corporation. This was enacted by the United States of America House of Representatives and the Senate. SOA has had great influence on the development and is currently accelerating European Union regulation of governance [34]. There are serious concerns expressed by EU over the United States’ steps they have laid down specifically the unprecedented outreach impact of the SOA for EU firms and EU auditors [35].
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EU based firms with US parent firms or subsidiaries that are quoted on the US stock exchange as controlled and monitored by Security Exchange Commission are required to conform to the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002. In this respect therefore, there was reconsideration of the main concerns by the commission on initiatives on the upgrading of corporate governance [36].
In response to the recent financial reporting scams, the obligation has been put forth to put into practice for capital markets of EU standards to promote public confidence in the function of audit and the necessity to act in response to SOA. The new contemporary regulatory framework for audit will be in use to non-EU audit firms which carry out the function of audit in connection to companies listed on the capital markets of European Union.
In achieving this identity of the EU regulatory advance to the defense of investors and other stakeholders, discussions have been put forth by the commission with the SEC to be precise but also with the major policy maker in the US congress and EU ministers for finance[37].
Corporate Governance Law
In view of whether to adopt the statute based corporate governance or the code based corporate governance, one must consider the constituents parts of the two Acts; together with the governing bodies and the state of compliance for the corporate governance. Sarbanes Oxley Act is far too complex to be adopted by UK [38].
For instance, section 404 on internal control assessment stipulates that a report to be submitted by the external auditor and management on the efficiency of the company’s financial report internal control. On the other hand, in the combined code it only requires that disclosure of the financial statements according to the principles of corporate governance.
This is normally hard to for UK based firms to adopt especially those operating in US. Besides, this must be approved by public company accounting oversight board (PCAOB). This has continued to create conflicts among different industries as to the role of the PCAOB in ensuring internal controls are followed up to date.
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The case can be illustrated with a legal challenge (Free enterprise fund V. public company accounting oversight board). This process of legal challenge was filed in 2006 which contested the relevance and constitutionality of PCAOB. The complainant forwarded arguments that due to the fact that PCAOB has regulatory authority over the industry of accounting the officers must be appointed by the president himself and not the security exchange committee.
Besides the law did not have the element of severability. Therefore the firm argued that the other part of the law was liable to lack an aspect of unconstitutionality based on judgment considering that one part of the law had judged unconstitutionally. Nevertheless the law allowed to go be discharged from the district court but the decision was held by the court of appeal in 2008.
What’s more, statute based corporate governance criminalizes any violation of corporate governance principles while the combined code does allow to a certain extent that firms issuing the financial reports could adopt to certain accounting procedures so long as the shareholders agreed to it and that any scary of investors was upon the directors and shareholders [39].
Nevertheless, the disclosure requirements were to be adhered to under the code to enhance accountability and responsibilities to the external stakeholders. In regard to disclosure controls the statute based corporate governance has two sections civil and criminal provisions which lack in the code based corporate governance[40].
Though the UK government and the general European Union are considering adopting this, the statute based corporate governance must be revised to suit the European Union based firms. This is due to the fact that the statute based corporate governance is far much complicated or complex to be easily simulated by UK based firms in overnight. Therefore the best governance to adopt is the code based corporate governance.
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Conclusion
In view of the discussion above, it is evident that the principal agency cost between the shareholders and the management inclusive of the directors is a broad area that requires careful understanding to mitigate on the negative effects. Managers and directors as discussed, normally pursue interests that align their desires failing to recognize the owners of the business.
On the hand, owing to the constant mixture of owners with the business management, several reports were released proposing the separation of the two to avoid exploitation of the consumer or employees. These reports have so far served their purpose in mitigating the principal agency costs only to bring about other concerns relating to which codes to adapt.
There is the statute based corporate governance and the code based corporate governance which brings about the conflict between the US based parent firms and UK based subsidiaries. The conflict created is in relation to the mode of corporate governance principles to apply. Nevertheless, as noted in the discussion plans are under way to adopt the best methods of practice that will suit all the stakeholders involved in the US and European Union.
Last but not least the role and importance of directors has been described in the process of mediating in between the principal agency costs between the shareholders and the managers. Therefore public corporations cannot be run to serve their own interests in consideration of other stakeholders mentioned in the discussion above.
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Corporate Governance Law
Bibliography
Books
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Brickley, James A., William S. Klug and Jerold L. Zimmerman, Managerial Economics& Organizational Architecture, (2004)
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[2] Crawford, C. J. Compliance & conviction: the evolution of enlightened corporate Governance, Santa Clara, Calif: XCEO (2007).
[3] Khalid Abu Masdoor, Ethical Theories of Corporate Governance. International Journal of Governance, (2011)1 (2): 484-492.
[4] Becht, Marco, Patrick Bolton, Ailsa Röell, “Corporate Governance and Control” ECGI- Finance Working paper (2004)
[5] Cadbury, Sir Adrian “The Code of Best Practice“, Report of the Committee on the Financial aspects of Corporate Governance, Gee and Co Ltd, (1992)
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[7] Sun, William, How to Govern Corporations So They Serve the Public Good: A Theory of Corporate Governance Emergence, New York: Edwin Mellen, (2009)
[8] Clarke, Thomas “International Corporate Governance” London and New York: Rutledge, (2007)
[9] Moebert, Jochen and Tydecks, Patrick, Power and Ownership Structures among German Companies, A Network Analysis of Financial Linkages,(2007)
[10] Clarke, Thomas & dela Rama, Marie (eds.) “Fundamentals of Corporate Governance (4 Volume Series)” London and Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE (2008)
[11] Clarke, Thomas & Chanlat, Jean-Francois (eds.) “European Corporate Governance”London and New York: Rutledge, (2009)
[12] Claessens, Stijn, Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H.P. the Separation of Ownershipand
Control in East Asian Corporations, Journal of Financial Economics, (2000) 58: 81-112
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Corporate Governance Law
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National Appliance Inc CASE STUDY
National Appliance Inc case study Bob Reard, Director of corporate transportation for National Appliance, Inc., has just hung up the phone after a lengthy discussion with Susan Jameson, vice president of logistics.
National Appliance Inc has just acquired an appliance distributor located in Paris, and the logistics department has two months to develop an operating process to support this European distributor with National Appliance Inc products. The shipments to Paris will begin in approximately five months, and Mr. Reard is to prepare a transportation operating plan for these shipments.
National Appliance Inc is a medium-size U.S. manufacturer of refrigerators and electric ranges. During the past fifteen years, National Appliance Inc has increased its share of the refrigerator and electric range market from less than 2 percent to 20 percent.
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Part of the reason for this tremendous growth is that National Appliance Inc offers high-quality products at low prices. In addition, National Appliance Inc has vertically integrated both its supply and marketing channels. National believes that quality products result from actually owning and managing key component vendors and that quality marketing and sales efforts result from directly managing distributors and retail appliance outlets.
It surprised Mr. Reard to learn that National Appliance Inc had purchased control of a European alliance distributor. There had been many rumors about expansion into the European market, but Mr. Reard had felt that National Appliance Inc would merely develop a contractual relationship with a distributor in Europe, not purchase a distributor.
Purchasing the Paris distributor is the first major international business venture for National Appliance Inc in its thirty-five-year history. During the late 1990’s the company had unsuccessfully attempted to market refrigerators in both Canada and Mexico. Mr. Reard had personally managed the truck shipments to both countries.
Consequently Mr. Reard and his staff have very limited international experience. They do, however, possess considerable expertise in domestic transportation, having successfully controlled both transportation costs and services during the company’s rapid growth in the past fifteen years.
Given the emphasis on quality products and service, top management has mandated consistent, low lead times. National Appliance Inc delivers domestic distributor orders in less than five days from the order date; the company allows no exceptions to this service policy.
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Truck transportation, including a private fleet, is the primary mode the company uses for both inbound and outbound shipments. Spare parts are normally shipped by ground express, but the company uses air express when the distributor or dealer needs a special part immediately. Ms. Jameson has established a logistics quality control program that measures carrier performance and has used Mr. Reard’s managerial skills to assure acceptable performance from National Appliance Inc carriers.
Having had little experience in international transportation, Mr. Reard feels a bit out of his element in developing an international transporation plan. Ms. Jameson has assured him that transportation is transportation and that the only difference between international and domestic transportation is distance.
Distance is going to be a major factor, since National Appliance Inc has plants located in Memphis, Minneapolis, and Omaha. This long distance from the European market will contribute to two basic problems; high transport costs and long lead times. Moving the products from the plants to the Atlantic or Gulf ports will require some form of ground transporation. Ocean carrier shipment will be long, and Mr. Reard will have to arrange to move the product from the French entry port to Paris. Mr. Reard is sure that he can hire an international transportation manager, but he will have to pay a high salary.
With the logistics planning meeting set for the next morning at 8:00 a.m., Mr. Reard prepares the following transporation plan for Ms. Jameson:
Finished product from all three plants will be shipped by truck to NY/New Jersey ports.
Water transportation will be used from New York/NJ to LeHavre, France.
Trucks will transport the products from LeHavre to the Paris distributor.
From Paris, the distributor will arrange transportation to the ultimate customer.
An international transportation manager will be hired.
Mr. Reard estimates that the total transit time required for this move will be approximately four weeks.
National Appliance Inc, Case study Questions:
For this case, you must do the following:
a) Type up the answer to the question below, using supporting materials from text, class, news, research citations, etc.
Develop an alternative international plan to present to Ms. Jameson, and provide justification sufficient to support its adoption. (include the strengths and weaknesses of your plan)
b) You must include one visual diagram, and include one justification for your strategy (strength or weakness). (For example, if driver issues might be a problem with your solution, you can tell why this isn’t a problem, based on the corporate strategy)
c) Include an overall conclusion of the case analysis.
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MODEL ANSWER
National Appliances Inc Case study
The current international plan made by Mr. Reard has some strengths and weaknesses but needs much improvement. Mr. Reard plans on transporting all finished products from three different locations to one main port through trucks. He also plans on using water transportation to deliver the products to the France harbor where they will be then transported to Paris through trucks. Due to his lack of experience in international transportation, Mr. Reard plans on hiring an international transport manager which will be quite hefty.
The main problems are a long lead time and high transportation cost from the USA to France. An alternative plan can be formulated in order to eliminate the weaknesses in Mr. Reards’ plan as well as eliminating the problems that are predicted. A new and better plan will be formulated in order to minimize on the scale of the current problems.
There will be a need for a central hub, where all products from Memphis, Minneapolis, and Omaha will be stored awaiting shipping and distribution. This will inevitably reduce transportation cost from all three locations to the harbor. A central hub will offer a service window defined by delivery frequency and response time to order (Rodrigue 2006).
According to (Carnarius 2018), longer journeys through rail can be cost effective as compared to road. This is because it is having reliable transit times and schedules and also fast and cost-effective. Moreover, one train can carry goods equivalent to 400 trucks hence more products can be transported to the port at once (Carnarius 2018).
Considering the amount of products to be transported, other modes of transport, like air, are considered economically unviable. Transporting cargo through the ocean is cost effective but at the same time disadvantageous due to long lead times (Carnarius 2018). Even though the four weeks of the time the water transportation is longer than the usual domestic time, it will reduce the cost for the company significantly.
Mr. Reard and his staff have helped in increasing the sales of National appliances from two percent to twenty percent in the last fifteen years. They possess considerable expertise in domestic transportation, having successfully controlled both transportation costs and services during the company’s rapid growth in the past fifteen years. Considering his experience, Mr. reard is capable of overseeing the whole project and will assure an acceptable performance from National appliances. Moreover, hiring a long-term employee will be expensive for the company. An alternative would be to consult an expert initially for setting up international operations. They will help the company overcome challenges and also increase revenue (Business News Daily 2021).
Using the new formulated plan will not only be cost effective but also reduce the long lead time. The company will have a smooth entrance into the global market and will inevitably see a high profit. A visualization of the new plan is presented in figure 1. The plan that would otherwise be presented to Ms. Jameson will be as follows:
A central hub will be created between the three locations where all products will be transported from for New York/ new jersey in order to reduce transportation cost.
In order to minimize on transportation cost, the products will be taken to the New York/new jersey ports through rail transportation.
From the USA ports, the products will be transported through water to the LeHarve harbor in France.
An international transport manager will not be hired, instead Mr. Reard will be overseeing the whole project.