Sharing or Fighting
Here are two news items today. One from Cnet News.com talks about how Microsoft and Sun are working together now. I like the quote "once we were slashing each other's tires, now we're fixing each other's flats." Cooperation within competition helps customers and suppliers. That's how many standards are developed--and standards are a good thing. They assure customers that there will be some staying power with the technology that they are purchasing--and in the case of automation users, basing their entire manufacturing operations on.
On the other hand, here is the article from The New York Times about a changing of the guard at CALPERS, the leading public investment organization. It has long been a leading activist for better corporate governance. There was grumbling that this shakeup might be a Republican ploy to reward business friends who supposedly don't like public oversight of the governance of their public companies. I hope that this is not the case, but simply a personal issue with the appointing board. Yes, Republicans have historically been the political friend of business--this dates back to the mid-1800s and the founding of the party. But a friend of business also needs to assure that its friends behave. Kind of like the slogan "friends don't let friends drive drunk," sometimes top managers of public companies forget the shareholders. As their egos grow moving them into a sort of Imperial dictatorship robbing the company and its shareholders of wealth, someone needs to shine a light on the situation.
Just like children in kindergarten, companies need to follow the same rules for success--cooperation and accountability.
Calpers Ouster Puts Focus on How Funds Wield Power. The ouster of the president of California's public pension fund has raised questions about whether pension funds will be able to influence corporate governance campaigns. By By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH. [NYT > Business]
6:17:33 AM 
|
