Tag Archives: shareholder value model

Capitalism as an Ecological Process

On April 2 The Economist published a book review of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Corporations, a 700-page manual on corporate finance and shareholder value published by McKinsey & Company. The views in both the book and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Andy Haldane, Anglo-Saxon capitalism, Bank of England, Cartesian Management, community, complex systems, context, ecocycle, ecological perspective, innovation, management principles, McKinsey, shareholder value model, Valuation | Comments Off on Capitalism as an Ecological Process

The “3Rs” of Management Part II: Rationality and Power

Walter Bagehot once wrote that “The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards”. Following on my blog from last week, I think that this is a fair description of … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged agency theory, Bent Flyvbjerg, Bertrand Russel, Bertrand Russell, domination, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, exploitation, Harold Leavitt, hunter-gatherer, innovation, investor capitalism, Machiavelli, means and ends, Nietzsche, power, Rakesh Khurana, Rationality and Power, rationalization, Realpolitik, Realrationalitat, shareholder value model, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on The “3Rs” of Management Part II: Rationality and Power

The Natural Case for Employee Engagement

Yesterday the Strategic Management Bureau asked, “Is the unending search for ‘the business case’ for employee engagement a futile exercise?” and cited an article on the topic. In my response to the question I suggested that the attempt to create … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged change, community, complex systems, creativity, crisis, destruction, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, empowerment, engagement, KPI, KSF, leadership, lean, management ethics, Max Weber, means and ends, passion, power, purpose, reason, renewal, scorecard, shareholder value model, social traps, strategy, sustainability, sweet zone, Toyota Production System, trust, value stream, wertrationale, zweckrationale | 1 Comment

The Drucker Forum: A Bridge from the Past to the Future

Today I am headed to Vienna to take part in the 4th Global Drucker Forum, where an essay I wrote earlier this year has won second prize in the manager/entrepreneur category. The Drucker Global Essay Challenge has two categories – … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Bob Lutz, budgets, change, complex systems, Drucker Essay Challenge, Drucker Forum, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, ecologics, Honda, logical positivism, MBO, performance management, Peter Drucker, power, self-control, shareholder value model, social ecology, The New Ecology of Leadership, trust | 2 Comments

Shareholder Value Part III: A New Narrative for Capitalism

The ripples from Joe Nocera’s August 10 column in The New York Times, “Down With Shareholder Value” continue to radiate throughout the blogosphere. This past week I came across Miguel Padró’s Yahoo blog, “Is ‘Maximizing Shareholder Value’ No Longer the … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Alexis de Toqueville, Anglo-Saxon capitalism, Aspen Institute, Berle and Means, community capitalism, context, crisis, destruction, ecodynamics, ecological perspective, ecology, English Nonconformists, evolution, externalities, family business, Gerald Davis, hunter-gatherer, Joe Nocera, John Kenneth Galbraith, managerial capitalism, MiguelPadro, narrative, narrative centre of gravity, neoclassical economics, re-localize, renewal, retention, selection, shareholder capitalism, shareholder value model, Sisyphus, The New Industrial State, variation | 1 Comment

Shareholder Value – Part II: “Down with Shareholder Value”

In Saturday’s New York Times, Joe Nocera wrote a column entitled “Down With Shareholder Value”. In it he traced briefly the rise of the concept and then suggested that we are at the “dawn of a new movement”, although it … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, creation, destruction, ecology, fire, forest, Harvard Business Review, Jay Lorsch, Joe Nocera, Justin Fox, lodgepole pine, Neil Sheehan, New York Times, shareholder value model, Vietnam War, World War II | Comments Off on Shareholder Value – Part II: “Down with Shareholder Value”

Is “Shareholder Value” a Myth or a Tool for Corporate Euthanasia?

I have been reading Lynn Stout’s The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and The Public. It is a short, highly readable book, written with the objective of demolishing what Professor Stout calls the “shareholder value … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged bankruptcy, boards, corporate law, directors, Dodge v. Ford, ecological perspective, innovation, liquidation, Lynn Stout, Mitt Romney, principal-agent, purpose, shareholder value model | 2 Comments

When Means Become Ends: Have our institutions lost their sense of purpose?

Forty years ago going to business school in the Western World, with a view to becoming a manager, was seen as an honorable endeavor. Back then we believed that management was a calling; a practice that had the potential to become … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged business schools, conflict of interest, ecological mental model, Friedrich Hayek, incentives, markets, means and ends, measurement, muppets, purpose, shareholder value model | Comments Off on When Means Become Ends: Have our institutions lost their sense of purpose?

Ecological Rationality: Coming Soon to a Website Near You!

In the dance of the seven veils (or is it seven dust covers?) that make up the pre-launch of The New Ecology of Leadership, the next scheduled event is the posting of the Introduction as an excerpt. I don’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged agency theory, ecological rationality, emotion and reason, Ken Robinson, neoclassical economics, shareholder value model, transaction cost economics | 2 Comments