Corporate governance

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

Questions that every board should be asking itself right now.

By pooling the resources of the poor and by sharing information, religious and financial institutions can work together to change inner-city economies.

Bonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […]

Pandemics, global warming, cyberattacks, and other catastrophes are a question of when, not if.

Joe Ryan turned a small-town cosmetics company into a national powerhouse, making employees happy and shareholders rich in the process. Does it really matter that he cheats on his wife?

Modern capitalism can be broken down into two major eras. The first, managerial capitalism, began in 1932 and was defined by the then radical notion that...

Because board meetings involve two groups-directors and managers-and because directors play a difficult dual role as both cops and advisers, boardroom...

I have a colleague who cares passionately about the environment. She worries about global warming, supports policy to reduce carbon emissions, and is militant about keeping the heat down and maintaining the proper tire pressure in her car. Yet her car is an SUV that gets shameful (her words) gas mileage. She lives in a […]

After the Great Recession, the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, needed to compete even harder for every dollar. Arthur C. Brooks...

As the 1990s overtake us, public interest in ethics is at a historic high. While the press calls attention to blatant derelictions on Wall Street, in the defense industry, and in the Pentagon, and to questionable activities in the White House, in the attorney general’s office, and in Congress, observers wonder whether our society is […]

Satisfied with doing good, too few foundations work strategically to do better.

Managers should make environmental investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or to reduce risks.

We all remember the SunChips Episode of 2010. Frito-Lay introduced bio-degradable packaging for SunChips in March, and was surprised to see sales of the...

If the CEO sits in the hot seat, the CFO’s chair is positively smoking. According to analysis conducted by the CFO Executive Board, annual CFO turnover at the largest 162 global companies between 1995 and 2003 was 17%—even higher than for CEOs—and three out of four current Fortune 500 finance officers have been in their […]

When the world's largest financial institutions had to be rescued from insolvency in 2008, many experts laid the blame at the feet of corporate boards....

Many leaders taking on new roles try to prove themselves early on by going after quick wins - fresh, visible contributions to the business. But in the...

Can we trick ourselves into making smarter choices?

They are prioritizing profits over R&D.