Free Essay

American Express - Corporate Governance Case

In:

Submitted By nishantjain18
Words 1966
Pages 8
American Express
Chairman/CEO Influence and Outcomes

7/30/2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

American Express Overview 3
James D. Robinson 3
Success and Failures of Robinson 3
Board Of Directors 4
Decisions Required 4
Candidates for CEO Position 5
Robinson’s Strategy 5
Decisions Of The Board 5
Problems Faced By American Express 6
Solution 7
Lessons Learnt 7
References 7

AMERICAN EXPRESS OVERVIEW
American Express Company (American Express), incorporated in 1965, is a global service company The Company’s principal products and services are charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses around the world. American Express Company and its principal operating subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (TRS), are bank holding companies. It is principally engaged in businesses comprising four reportable operating segments: U.S. Card Services, International Card Services, Global Commercial Services, and Global Network & Merchant Services. Its range of products and services includes charge and credit card products, expense management products and services, consumer and business travel services, stored value products, such as Travelers Cheques and other prepaid products, network services, merchant acquisition and processing, point-of-sale, servicing and settlement, and marketing and information products and services for merchants, and fee services, including market and trend analyses and related consulting services, fraud prevention services, and the design of customized customer loyalty and rewards programs. In November 2010, it acquired Accertify Inc., a provider of solutions that help merchants combat fraudulent online and other card-not-present transactions.

JAMES D. ROBINSON
In 1977, James D Robinson was appointed CEO and Chairman of American Express. He continued to hold this position till 1992. He outlined a vision of a financial empire that would offer all things to all people: charge cards, insurance brokerage services, money management, private banking. It would be unlike any other company ever formed, offering cradle-to-grave financial care for anyone in the world, anywhere in the world. The potential synergies were awe-inspiring: Shearson mutual funds and Fireman’s Fund insurance offered to American Express card holders; American Express travel planning offered to Shearson’s Wall St clients. The combinations seemed endless.
In his tenure he also strengthened the board with 17 new members making the board to become 19 members strong. The corporate governance of the organization was therefore assumed to be mature enough for clients, markets and shareholders to put in their trust.

SUCCESS AND FAILURES OF ROBINSON
American Express soon launched a strategy of acquisition in 1980s. It went through enlarging the empire through takeovers to many organizations and big brands in the financial world. Some of examples are:
• 1981 - Shearson, at a cost of nearly $1 billion
• 1981 - The Boston Company
• 1983 - Edmond Safra’s Trade Development Bank
• 1984 - Investors Diversified Services
• 1984 - Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb
• 1987 - E.F. Hutton & Co.
There were other instances where American Express could not turn the mark the deal successful; examples are:
• 1977 - Philadelphia Life.
• 1987–88 - Disney
• 1987–88 - The Book-of-the-Month Club.
• 1979 - McGraw-Hill.

While all the goals and acquisitions were targeted to increase the profitability of the organization, there were some major setbacks arising due to this:
• AmEx’s 36 years record of increasing profit broken in 1983, as Fireman’s fund declared $242m loss bringing down the company’s profit.
• Trade Development Bank was sold and an additional $8m penalty paid to Safra because of Robinson’s negative campaign against him.
• Boston Company confessed accounting fraud of $30m in 1988.
• ‘The Boston Fee Party’ campaign was launched by Boston Restaurants by completely boycotting AmEx cards.
• An innovative product called ‘Optima’ cards caused $112m loss to AmEx.
• Shearson stock fell down to 1/3rd, and AmEx had to buy all its remaining shares. Shearson’s CEO Mr. Peter Cohen was fired.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In 1992, American Express had one of the largest board in USA. It contained 19 board members and only three of these were company employees. With majority as independent and non-executive directors, AmEx’s board was also an admirable one. Some of the Directors on the board were:
• Mr. Rawleigh Warner and Mr. Richard Furlaud - 2 most senior board members. (These two members joind board in 1972, before Robinson was appointed as CEO/Chiarman.)
• Mr. Howard Clark (Robinson’s predecessor as CEO), was not a board member but was a regular attendee of meetings.
• Drew Lewis, CEO of Union Pacific .
• Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state.
• F. Ross Johnson, the impetuous ex-CEO of RJR Nabisco.
• Vernon Jordan, the civil-rights lawyer.

DECISIONS REQUIRED
Warner brought to light evidences of setbacks that had befallen AmEx under Robinson’s leadership. He pointed out many events proving this, which All this had a cost of billions of dollars to shareholders:
• Attempted takeover of Philadelphia Life Insurance Co. in 1977.
• Aborted mergers
• Problems at Shearson
• episodes involving Safra and RJR Nabisco
• the losses from Optima
• the erosion of the card’s market share.

All this was insisting that Robinson should now be moved out from the CEO position. But his left board with questions:
 Who will be the next CEO?
 Should he/she be an Outsider or from AmEx?
 Should Robinson be allowed to be associated with Company?
 Should Robinson become Chairman?
 Should Robinson be allowed to become CEO of Shearson (a troubled wing of AmEx)?

CANDIDATES FOR CEO POSITION
With the decision of “Whether the CEO should be an existing American Express person or external one?” still pending, board had a luxury to look into all sort of candidates in the corporate world. The top few candidates in the list were:
1. Harvey Golub
Mr. Harvey Golub was a front runner in the organization with proven prodigy in his assignments so far. Golub had moved to TRS after a spell as chief of IDS, the Minneapolis-based fund management group bought by AmEx in 1984. He achieved stellar performance at IDS and was a lead figure in TRS’s renaissance, responsible for a $1 billion cost-cutting plan and a more flexible approach to merchant charges. He was known to be Robinson’s first choice

2. Sir Colin Marshall, President of British Airways
An effective leader and has handled British Airways in its growth phase. But he was ruled out amidst the uproar in market about British scandal in which the airline had admitted a “dirty tricks” campaign against Richard Branson’s rival Virgin Group. Sir Colin Marshall was named responsible for this event. A negative image of his therefore led to elimination from AmEx’s CEO nominations list.
3. Frito-Lay, Chairman Roger Enrico
He himself pulled back his candidature, citing his lack of interest in American Express work.
ROBINSON’S STRATEGY
Robinson had a twofold strategy to maintain his position in the organization. He made suggestions to board which can take care of the demands of board to change the CEO/Chairman of organization, and secretly maintain his powers in organization. His proposal –
• Agrees to resign from CEO positions, but wants to stay as part of the company (as Chairman).
• As Chairman he can help Harvey to work well in new role. Since Robinson has served 16 years as CEO of organization, he wanted to help Harvey and make sure he manages the org well.
• Feels personal obligation to uplift Shearson business, so asks for appointment as CEO of Shearson.
DECISIONS OF THE BOARD
Board of AmEx comprised of a good 19 directors. 2 were appointed in 1972, well before Roboinson was appointed as CEO and Chairman. Other 17 were appointed in tenure of Robinson’s Chairmanship. Robinson made good use of this opportunity and handpicked the suitable candidates who can cause less trouble to him in operations. He further maintained a very good, friendly and close to personal relations with all the directors. This also came in handy to influence the directors when the decisions were required from their side. More or less Robinson was able to keep the board on his tunes and make decisions of Corporate Governance easy for him.
In the wake of CEO role transition required, he was again using the tactics to bring majority of the directors to his side through informal meetings, lavish dinners etc., but all under the name of information sharing events. Apart from this, he could also influence directors through existing interlocks with directors on board, only a few to mention are –
• Furlaud sat on the board of American Express, and Robinson sat on the board of Bristol Myers Squibb, Furlaud’s old company, where Furlaud was still a director.
• Robinson serve on the board and the compensation committee of Union Pacific directly responsible for setting Drew Lewis’s pay who was CEO of Union Pacific.
• Council on Foreign Relations featured Kissinger and Furlaud, along with Robinson and Charles Duncan.
• Kissinger also sat with Beverly Sills on the board of Macy’s, and with Armstrong at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

All these factors were very well utilized by Robinson to influence a majority of directors on the board. There were a few directors on the board who were out of his reach but the opposition never reached the majority, and the board reached the decision which was well proposed by Robinson –
• Robinson – continues as Board Chairman
• Harvey – Appointed as CEO of American Express
• Robinson – Appointed as CEO of Shearson

And hence a spiral hierarchy structure came into existence which was completely illogical to even a layman and probably never existed ever in the corporate history –

“Subordinate is also the Boss of his Boss”

PROBLEMS FACED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS
With this decision coming to picture, American Express was set to bear the wrath of the world. The board was influenced in the decision and this was not hidden at all. The decision itself was very immature for an organization of stature of American Express and there was no digestible justification that could cover it. The outcomes were -
• Media sent out the message of cheating aloud in public.
• Shareholders went crazy with distrust planted by company. Stock price dipped for 13% within first two days of this announcement.
• Clients, due to diminished credibility, turned stone faced to any proposal coming from American Express sales teams.
• Employees and management, especially at Shearson, were left in shock and could not decide how to cooperate with such decisions. More to add Shearson was a troubled entity and could not find how Robinson would help now being a CEO of it when he was always in power being CEO of American Express and there was no solution provided. Their hope of a fresh breathing space and direction of a someone new in command was also shattered by this decision.
SOLUTION
As markets continued to criticize this kind of reshuffling in hierarchy, the organization as a whole was going in deep troubles and only person happy was Robinson. Harvey was well appointed by him as CEO of AmEx but very soon Harvey realized that his tenure is subject to his real thinking abilities and can’t be mentored reign.
Harvey eventually had to put his foot down and ask Robinson to step down from his roles in organization. This was backed by the circumstances faced by organization. He was also particular of making no compromise and hence rejected the yet another proposal by Robinson which mentioned that he can resign from Chairmanship but wants to be at Shearson CEO position.
After his stepping aside, Mr, Furlaud was appointed as Chairman of Board.
LESSONS LEARNT
• Lack of independent decisions of Directors of Board was a huge cost to the organization.
• Influence of Chairman on board made a very valuable decision go for a toss, which could be judged immediately by markets but not by learned directors.
• Interlocks should have been restricted by government policies.

REFERENCES
• http://people.forbes.com/profile/james-d-robinson/20799
• http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/
• http://www.nndb.com/people

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Auditing

...Corporate governance heavily refers to the whole structure of rights, processes and controls established internally and externally over the management of a business entity with the objective of protecting the interests of its stakeholders from any type of loses incurring. To begin with, firstly there are three types of auditors in the corporate governances, internal, external and government auditors. The role of the internal auditors in the corporate governance is to evaluates corporate activities, controls or procedures and ensures that they are adequate and in compliance with senior management's recommendations and human resources guidelines. An internal audit also helps a firm adhere with regulatory standards and industry practices.An internal auditor evaluates a firm's processes, "controls" and mechanisms to ensure that they are "adequate" and "functional". A control is a group of instructions that top management puts into place to avoid losses due to human error, technology breakdowns or fraud. A "functional" control provides corrections to internal problems. A control is "adequate" when it clarifies instructions for job performance and problem reporting. An auditor also ensures that a firm's activities and controls abide by government mandates or industry regulations. (Codjia, 2013) Moreover the role and responsibility of an external auditor is to provide assurance to the general public regarding the truth and fairness of the information presented in the audited reports...

Words: 2531 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Corporate Governance Failure at Satyam

...VANITA YADAV C.V. BAXI CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FAILURE AT SATYAM “Why do you want to quit Satyam,”1 the panel member asked the 30-year-old employee being interviewed. Satyam Computer Services Ltd (“Satyam”) was India’s fourth-largest computer services company; however, many employees had left and applied for new jobs after news of a US$1.4 billion corporate fraud at Satyam became public in December 2008. 2 Satyam’s governance failure had severely shaken its stakeholders and the global business community, and the business press worldwide referred to Satyam as “India’s Enron”.3 Satyam was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) in 2001 and on Euronext Amsterdam in 2008. 4 It boasted a large number of clients, including many Fortune 500 companies.5 The founder of Satyam Computer Services, B. Ramalinga Raju (“Raju”), was a highly regarded entrepreneur and an eminent fixture at prestigious corporate events in India.6 In 2007, he was honoured with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, yet a mere two years later, on 7 January 2009, Raju made the calamitous confession that he had falsified accounts on a grand scale over a long period of time. His shocking announcement sparked a big debate over whether India possessed adequate guidelines for corporate governance. 7 How did Raju commit a fraud of such magnitude? How could a successful company, twice awarded the Golden Peacock award for corporate governance excellence collapse in such a manner? 8 Where did the internal...

Words: 8868 - Pages: 36

Premium Essay

Employment-at-Will

...Employment-At-Will Doctrine Doctrine of Employment At-Will Employment at-will is a guideline that is described by American law. This law defines the relationship between employees and employers and also states that the employer have a right to an terminate its relationship with related employees. For the termination of employees, the employer of the organization is free for giving a legal notice to employees or not, if his or her act breaches the contract between the organization and employees (National Conference of State Legislatures., 2013). At the same time, this law does not include any term related to warning that is given by the organization to employees before taking the termination decision. Employment at-will does not describe the subsequent liability of the employers towards the employees and it does not express any term of a contract that could be able to give the right to the employees against their termination. This doctrine states that an employer is free for terminating any employees, whether their work is good or bad (Workplace Fairness. 2013). Before the year of 2000, this doctrine only gives a right to the employees that under this act, the employees are also free for making striking, quit, or ceasing the working process completely to protect their termination, if the decision of employer goes beyond the employment contract work book. In the year of 2000, the Supreme Court of California explained this law and also stated that it is the right of employers...

Words: 1728 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Fall of Lehman Brothers

...LEHMAN BROTHERS: CASE BACKGROUND On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. With $639 billion in assets and $619 billion in debt, Lehman's bankruptcy filing was the largest in history, as its assets far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants such as WorldCom and Enron. Lehman was the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank at the time of its collapse, with 25,000 employees worldwide. Lehman's demise also made it the largest victim, of the U.S. subprime mortgage-induced financial crisis that swept through global financial markets in 2008. Lehman's collapse was a seminal event that greatly intensified the 2008 crisis and contributed to the erosion of close to $10 trillion in market capitalization from global equity markets in October 2008, the biggest monthly decline on record at the time. The History of Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers had humble origins, tracing its roots back to a small general store that was founded by German immigrant Henry Lehman in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1844. In 1850, Henry Lehman and his brothers, Emanuel and Mayer, founded Lehman Brothers. While the firm prospered over the following decades as the U.S. economy grew into an international powerhouse, Lehman had to contend with plenty of challenges over the years. Lehman survived them all – the railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, two world wars, a capital shortage when American Express spun it off in 1994, and the Long Term Capital Management...

Words: 1770 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Koito

...The Japanese corporate governance system differs vastly from the US system. Discuss corporate governance issues that may arise under the Japanese Keiretsu system from the perspective of a).financiers, b). Owners, c). Suppliers, d). Employees. Corporate Governance System in Japan (1) Definition of Corporate Governance Corporate governance deals with the agency problem: the separation of management and finance. This basic agency problem suggests a possible definition of corporate governance as addressing both an adverse selection and a moral hazard problem. The traditional definition of corporate governance was such a narrow view as Shleifer and Vishny (1997) mentioned that the ways in which the suppliers of finance to corporations assure themselves of getting a return on their investment. Recent trend, however, express doubts on the definition that solely focuses on shareholder value. EPA (1998) shows the constituents of corporate governance as follows: Table 1: Constituents of corporate governance Stakeholders | Interest | Desired Management | Shareholders | Maximize profitsAsset protection | Profitable managementSound management | Investors | Efficient investment | Exploitation of profitable investment | Creditors | Protection of receivables | Sound management | Main bank | Corporate growth | Sound managementPursuit of productivity growth | Employees | Pay raiseSecure employment RelationshipPromotion | Profitable managementSound managementSustainable...

Words: 1839 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Economics of Water

...Economics of Water Abstract Government regulation is needed in today’s industry. While this paper will look at the governance of the economics of water it will start with a brief introduction of the reasons why government regulation is something that the shareholders’ of a corporation should embrace and should ignore the hype from management, media, and academia about why governance is wrong. They tend to mistakenly call all decisions as opportunistic behavior whether it is ethical or not. Regulation should be regarded as a tool to address basic public ends (Dent, 2008). Management should see regulation as a benefit to society. It should engrave a sense of duty to their decision making. There are two types of governance that this paper is going to consider. The first is necessity of internal governance of public corporations. The second is specific industry governance specific to the economics of water. In addressing the internal governance of public corporations, this paper will address a short history of why internal control is regulated by government, some objections to government regulation of internal control, and why these criticisms are unwarranted. By July of 2002 Americans had been plagued by a flood of corporate scandal. The names: Enron, World Com, Adelphia and Arthur Anderson will forever be burned into our history books as those infamous corporations that ruined the lives of millions of people. Their jobs were lost, their pensions disappeared...

Words: 3239 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

The Case of Scandals of Enron and Worldcom, Lesson to Rwanda

..................................................... 5 5. Effects of the scandal, legislative perspective ............................................................................ 5 6. Comment and lesson to Rwandan business sector ...................................................................... 7 6.1. Corporate governance .......................................................................................................... 7 6.2. Committed crimes during the scandals .............................................................................. 10 6.2.1. Insider trading .............................................................................................................. 10 6.2.2. Wire fraud .................................................................................................................... 11 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 12 8. Authorities................................................................................................................................. 13 1 Lessons from Enron and WorldCom cases 1. Introduction The economies of the nations are built many economic activities, businesses being cornerstone. For them to run smoothly, the States must avoid a strict interference of how business must be conducted. Or, if they...

Words: 5102 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Mgt7019#7

...includes all assignments, exams, term papers, and other projects required by the faculty mentor. The known submission of another person’s work represented as that of the Learner’s without properly citing the source of the work will be considered plagiarism and will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course, and may result in academic dismissal. | | MGT-7019 | Jo Ann Davis | | | Ethics in Business | Assignment 7 – Case Study: A Primer on Sarbanes-Oxley | | | ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Faculty Use Only ------------------------------------------------- <Faculty comments here> ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- <Faculty Name> <Grade Earned> <Writing Score> <Date Graded> Case Study: A Primer on Sarbanes-Oxley Tanya M. Johnson MGT 7019: Ethics in Business Northcentral University February 3, 2013 Abstract In the wake of...

Words: 2055 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Culture Clash

...34 must first improve the effectiveness of corporate boards of directors. And now my dreams. My first dream is that one day some investment analyst will conclude his or her report on Dayton Hudson with something like this: "In addition to its excellent strategic thrust and management strength, Dayton Hudson Corporation Kenneth N. Dayton has a premier concept of governance and a premier board of directors, which together offer the best hope for ensuring the corporation's future. So, if you want to buy a share of stock for your new grandchild, this would be a company to select." When some analyst says that about us-or about any other corporation for that matter-it will, at last, be an indication that the market is beginning to look beyond this year's (or even next quarter's) estimate of earnings. If that day ever does come, it will bring recognition that corporate governance is every bit as important as corporate management to ensuring the future of corporate America. My second dream is that as well as of a number of Minneapolis The Dayton Hudson Corposomeday the capital gains tax will be civic and cultural organizations. He ration is known for its profitable wrote this article before his retirement revised along tbese lines: if you hold a growth as a diversified retailing comstock less than a year, the gain (if any) from the Dayton Hudson board. pany, for its merchandising strategy, will be taxed at ordinary income tax for its objective to...

Words: 3473 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Financial Anlisis

...FedEx Corporation Strategic Audit May 14, 2004 MGMT 449 Prepared by: Clement Chen Lisa Duong Hideo Yang Marny Susanty Mario Vellandi Andrea Betro Forward: This company for this case analysis was chosen by me, Mario Vellandi. I found FedEx interesting because they are one of the top four logistics companies in the world with 2002 group revenues of $24.2 billion. Since I was studying the transport industry, I found them to be an excellent company to analyze while in Strategic Management. Research Process To prepare for this case, I had performed primarily all the research for this case. This process involved first going to the firm’s SEC filings on its website, then downloading the .rtf version of its 2003 10-K, and the following 10-Qs and pre-announcements. After having read and highlighted some 65 pages and notating applicable data for each section of the strategic audit, I copied the data into individual Word documents titled after each respective category. I also utilized company info from the investors section of its site. Next I used the standard and news search functions of Google, among other sites, by combing the term fedex with a combination of various business terms such as competition, weaknesses, swot analysis, and commercials. I had also used combinations with competitors’ names and specific business functions. Next, I had used the advanced features to limit my searches in two ways: by data type, and by domain extension. I found relevant existing secondary...

Words: 10788 - Pages: 44

Premium Essay

Law/421 Final Examination Study Guide

...each week’s objectives. In addition, refer to each week’s readings and your student guide as study references for the Final Examination. Week One: Introduction to Law Objective: Define the functions of law in society. 1. Precedent evolves from a. state and federal constitutions b. state and federal statutes c. the common law d. a combination of both state and federal statutes and common law Objective: Define the functions of law in society. 2. Once stare decisis and case precedent is established, a. it may be disregarded and overturned by a court if they deem such action appropriate b. it may not be disregarded by a court but may be overturned by state statute c. it may not be disregarded by a court or be overturned by state statute but may only be changed by amendment to the state's constitution d. it may not be disregarded or overturned once established and must be followed without exception Objective: Define the role of law in business. 3. In the cases of Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. and Katzenbach v. McClung, the Supreme Court found illegal discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by applying a. the Commerce Clause b. the Supremacy Clause c. the Necessary and Proper Clause d. the Equal Protection Clause Objective: Define the role of law in business. 4. In Cavel International, Inc. v. Madigan, when Illinois passed the statute barring the slaughter of horses primarily for human consumption, Cavel presented each of...

Words: 2675 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Wyndham Case Summary

...three security breaches involving 500,000 stolen credit card numbers; another breached 50,000 credit card numbers and lastly, 69,000 in the other hotel chains. The basis of argument by FTC was that the management successfully failed to implement well-know security measures. The plaintiff noted that the Management did not implement a network set-up separating hotel system and the corporate...

Words: 899 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Recent Accounting and Corporate Governance Scandals

...REPORT RE: RECENT ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SCANDALS Contents INTRODUCTION: 3 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 5 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN IRELAND 5 RESPONSE FROM REGULATORS TO THE MOST RECENT SCANDALS IN BANKING SECTOR 7 US CORPORATE GOVERNANCE at a time of Tyco scandal 8 RESPONSE FROM THE REGULATORS -SARBANES-OXLEY ACT 2002 9 AUDIT 10 EXTERNAL AUDIT 10 INTERNAL AUDIT 11 INTRODUCTION TO ANGLO IRISH BANK 12 The Scandals 12 Loans to Sean Fitzpatrick 13 Irish Life and Permanent Depositing Funds 14 Corporate Governance Situation of Anglo 16 Ernst & Young – External Auditor 17 Impact on Shareholders & The Public 18 Company Law, Financial Regulator, Accounting Standards IFRS and GAAP 19 TYCO INTERNATIONAL 20 DETAILS OF TYCO’S SCANDAL 21 ACCOUNTING ISSUES IDENTIFIED 22 THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE WEAKNESSES AT TYCO 22 PERFORMANCE OF EXTERNAL AUDITORS 23 CONCLUSION 27 The Main Reasons for The Scandals 27 Steps taken afterwards-will they prevent similar events happening in the future? 33 END REFLECTION 36 Bibliography: 37 Appendices: 41 INTRODUCTION: Accounting and corporate governance scandals have been a growing problem in the recent years. Many believe that the blame for those scandals should be borne on two groups of people. Those responsible for managing a company and those whose duty is to provide assurance on the accounts prepared by the directors (auditors), both of whom failed to perform their jobs adequately...

Words: 12288 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Disney

...multinational corporation, its business power related to the exportation of “American imperialism”, its business ethics related to its theme parks and resorts, and its corporate governance problems under former CEO Michael Eisner. Many blame these kinds of changes in company values and mission to Michael Eisner. Globalization efforts made by The Walt Disney Company would prove costly when it made bad decisions based on naïve assumptions of the cultural acceptance of Mickey Mouse into Japan and France. Tokyo Disneyland emerged as the most profitable theme park, but with TWDC having no stake in the company; and Disneyland Paris, backed heavily by TWDC, had to be restructured only after two years of opening. Domestically, theme park safety had been compromised, all in the name of profit. An embittered declaration for Eisner’s resignation came in 2003 by ousted board member Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt and last remaining active family member at TWDC, and his trusted friend, Stanley Gold, who resigned the board. Ultimately, Roy Disney helped lead a Disney shareholder revolt that arguably contributed to Eisner’s departure from the company with nearly 45% of shareholders disapproval of Eisner. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Globalization 5 Tokyo Disneyland 5 Disneyland Paris (formerly knownas Euro Disney) 6 Business Power 7 Business Ethics 9 Safety vs. the Bottom Line 11 Corporate Governance 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction...

Words: 3475 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Corporate Governance Practice of British American Tobacco, Bangladesh Ltd

...UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICE OF BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO, BANGLADESH LTD. JULY’ 2012 NAHID RIJWAN ID# 3-09-17-033 University of Dhaka Department of Management Studies MBA (Evening Program) Summer, 2012 Term Paper Course Title Course code Corporate Governance & Diplomacy EM 557 Course Teacher Md. Mesbah Uddin Topic Term Paper: Corporate Governance Practice of British American Tobacco, Bangladesh Ltd. 29- 07- 2012 Date Submitted by Name Nahid Rijwan Roll 3-09-17-033 CONTENTS Topic CHAPTER – 1 About British American Tobacco Bangladesh Business Principles of BAT, Bangladesh Standards of Business Conduct of BAT, Bangladesh: CHAPTER – 2 Corporate Governance Statement Board of Directors of BAT Bangladesh and Their Roles Relationship with Shareholders Accountability and Audit Compliance with Legal Requirements Employees Standards of Business Conduct CHAPTER -3 Corporate Social Responsibility Statement Probaho Socially Responsible Tobacco Production (SRTP) Deepto Afforestation CHAPTER - 4 Auditor’s Report to The Shareholders 16 12 12 13 14 15 6 7 9 10 10 10 11 1 2 3 Page CHAPTER - 5 Comparative Analysis of Bat Bangladesh’s Corporate Governance Compliance Status of compliance with the Provisions Denoted in the Code of Corporate Governance for Bangladesh, March 2004 Status of compliance with the Conditions Imposed by the Securities & Exchange Commission's Notification 21 19 18 REFERENCES 23 ANNEXURE - I 24 ...

Words: 13287 - Pages: 54