(Financial Times, 11 April 2012) In Brief: Three Japanese enterprises have thrived during that country’s deflationary “lost decade,” which began in 1999. Their successes can be a model for firms struggling to adapt to the slow-growth environment in Western economies today, this writer says. Fiber and textile maker Toray, photographic company Fujifilm and cosmetics seller [...]
Read more(CFO World, 2 March 2012) In Brief: Companies should not use online video for earnings restatements, especially if top managers deny responsibility. “For all its vaunted powers, video can present special hazards for a company when those powers are most needed – namely when there is bad news to report,” according to the American Accounting [...]
Read more(CFO World, 2 February 2012) In Brief: New research indicates that voice-recognition software can be used to gauge the tone of executives’ voices on earnings calls, enabling one to more accurately predict if a company will restate its earnings. As this article explains, the lesson for CFOs and CEOs is, “don’t just watch what you [...]
Read more(The Wall Street Journal, 11 November 2011) In Brief: Last week, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services mistakenly alerted certain subscribers that they had downgraded France’s AAA credit rating. The false alarm, which was S&P’s third controversial action in recent months, rattled markets and pushed French bond yields higher. Our View: Despite the recent controversy surrounding [...]
Read more(GMA News, 29 October 2011) In Brief: The European Union has devised plans to increase competition among rating agencies and force companies to seek credit opinions from smaller agencies using a mandatory “rotation.” EU policymakers claim that Standard and Poor’s, Fitch Ratings, and Moody’s have formed an oligopoly and that numerous conflicts of interest exist [...]
Read more(9 News Finance, 26 September 2011) In Brief: While supermarket giant Woolworths believes its net profits will increase this year, that outlook is clouded by the fact that the retail sector faces low consumer confidence due to global economic and financial uncertainty. Our View: As finance executives grapple with how to operate in today’s unbalanced [...]
Read more(The Hindu Business Line, 23 September 2011) In Brief: According to a new report, large global manufacturing companies will focus on top-line growth over the next two years by concentrating on acquisitions, innovation, developing new products, and increasing production capacity in high-growth markets. Our View: As executives grapple with how to operate in today’s unbalanced [...]
Read more(The Board Blog, 27 June 2011) In Brief: According to the author of this blog, say on pay is “philosophically wrong” because shareholders never have all the information they need to make informed advisory voting decisions, and directors should not have to explain every decision they make. In fact, this author predicts that many directors [...]
Read more(The Harvard Business Review, 21 June 2011) In Brief: Although the intangible, amorphous notion of a “company culture” rarely gets the attention it deserves, its importance cannot be overstated. Managers should emphasize conveying the company culture, demonstrating it, and integrating it into human resources practices. Our View: Even small improvements in an organization’s culture can [...]
Read more(IR Web Report, 18 April 2011) In Brief: Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget’s (SCA) overall web traffic has increased 50% since the company started using social media. Even more impressive is the fact that the increase came without increasing SCA’s web communications budget. Our View: SCA’s IR social media activities center primarily on the content sharing services [...]
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