Product Description
In the highly praised The Market for Virtue, David Vogel presents a clear, balanced analysis of the contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement in the United States and Europe. In this updated paperback edition, Vogel discusses recent CSR initiatives and responds to new developments in the CSR debate. He asserts that while the movement has achieved success in improving some labor, human rights, and environmental practices in developing countries, there are limits to improving corporate conduct without more extensive and effective government regulation. Put simply, Vogel believes that there is a market for virtue, but it is limited by the substantial costs of socially responsible business behavior.
Customer Reviews:
An invaluable resource offering a serious-minded, in-depth discussion of a complex issue.......2007-01-06
Written by Professor of Business Ethics (Haas School of Business) David Vogel, The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility is a scholarly examination of a politically charged and highly polarized debate concerning what corporate social responsibility can, cannot, and must accomplish in a modern capitalist economy. Chapters explore answers to and differing perspectives on the questions "Is there a business case for virtue?" and "What is the demand for virtue?" as well as examining corporate responsibility with regard to both the environment and human rights. Extensively researched, The Market for Virtue is an invaluable resource offering a serious-minded, in-depth discussion of a complex issue. Enthusiastically recommended especially for college library shelves, and invaluable reading for activists, businessmen, and legal personnel grappling with all dimensions of the interests and responsibilities of corporations.
Excellent: Balanced, Readable and Practical.......2006-02-22
Vogel has provided us with a much needed skeptics eye view of Corporate Social Resposibility. This book is a very accesible and practical guide for the manager who is beset with open ended questions and needs realistic answers to a difficult subject. The "needs to have" are separated from the "nices to have", the realistic from the theoretical.
At less than 200 pages, this is the one book the operating manager needs to read on the subject.
The Seminal Work in CSR.......2005-11-18
Vogel's THE MARKET FOR VIRTUE is the seminal work in CSR. His lively text offers the right mix of theory, analysis, and example. His conclusions are profound and will make a difference for the better. Required reading for corporate executives, business and management students, and those of us who simply wish to be informed participants in 21st century society.
Excellent analysis on CSR today by Silvia Barceló Lhéritier.......2005-10-25
Excellent and neutral analysis with accuracy and clarity. Helps thinking about future of CSR professionnals.
Best Book on the Subject.......2005-10-07
Vogel's THE MARKET FOR VIRTUE is a balanced and objective review of the many activites that fall under the rubric of "corporate social responsibility." He convincingly shows that these are over-ballyhooed by their enthusiasts, and over-disparaged by their critics. In fact, they make useful, albeit marginal, contributions to the welfare of communities and society. He draws useful distinctions between the many different manifestations of CSR, and offers thoughtful metrics for evaluating them. He cites literally hundreds of examples, and helps the reader to think about them in a rigorous and disciplined way. This is a must-read for corporate executives and business students.
Book Description
If your organization does not have project fraud and project investment reporting controls in operation, you face the real risk of hefty fines and possible jail time for executives under the Sarbanes-Oxley federal law. Essential Project Investment Governance and Reporting introduces proactive best methods for ensuring proper financial reporting of project investments and techniques for preventing, detecting, and managing the risks of fraud in projects that will ensure corporate governance compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. It shows you how to manage project fraud through the PMO and internal auditing units while enabling overall improvement of corporate governance.
No other publication summarizes the essential U.S. financial reporting concepts on project investments in such an easily accessible manner. Whether you work in a privately held company, a non-profit, or operate within some level of the government, you will be expected to comply with these requirements because your customers will demand it. This book is a must-read for project managers and accountants in all types of firms.
Customer Reviews:
Must Read for PMO Directors and Sr. Management.......2005-04-22
Steve's first book (Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO with Gerald Kendall) transformed the perception of a PMO from a project cost management/efficiency cop to a potential profit center, raising the bar for most organizations. He (along with Richard Lanza) has pushed the envelope again making the case for the PMO as the best qualified entity for preventing financial losses to the corporation due to project fraud.
The term project fraud may at first seem a harsh characterization of the poor project success rates that most management accepts as the status quo. However, Rollins and Lanza do an excellent job of mapping the COSO Control Framework to the execution of project objectives and the performance of project personnel. They include diagrams, descriptions and questions to assist in the performance of a Project Fraud Risk Assessment. The underlying conclusions are that poor manmagement of project fraud can seriusly hurt corporate business objectives and that the PMO is best suited to perform this function.
This is must reading for PMO Directors struggling to get the visibility and executive blessing needed to effectively fulfill their mission.
Must Reference for Project Management and SOX Compliance.......2005-03-19
This is a necessary reference for effective project management and Section 404 compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley. The book provideds an abundance of checklists and questions that will make this an ongoing well used reference for ensuring continued corporate governance. The reality of project fraud and its widespread impact is clearly spelled out. Rollins and Lanza accomplished their objective with well stated structures for breaking down the work steps needed to prevent fraud and establish effective internal controls for managing projects. You get your money's worth with this book.
Working Together - Collaborating to Beat Fraud.......2005-02-24
As a project manager, I was very interested to read this book. The consequences of unchecked fraudulent activity in the public and private sectors does more than affect the "bottom line." It erodes public confidence in the ability of managers to protect the assets assigned to their care.
Within organizations, fraud robs employees of the resources they need to fulfill their obligations. This book gives project managers, auditors, and fraud investigators a "blueprint" for taking effective collaborative action to both uncover and prevent fraud during the life of projects. Since so much business activity is project-based, it's a wonder we had to wait so long for it.
The book's organization makes it easy to follow the argument that fraud can be dealt with effectively. The Preface clearly states the purpose of the book. Each chapter is divided by important topics within. This is accurately reflected in the table of contents. Each chapter is also neatly summarized at the end. It has a helpful index at the back of the book as well.
The Appendices are helpful, too. They supplement the text by providing a "List of Sarbanes-Oxley Act Sections," "Decision Tree for Software Development Projects," and "Project Fraud Management Policy Template."
The authors have the necessary professional credentials and the extensive experience needed to synthesize the subject matter. They have the all-important credibility to support their contentions.
I thought the book brought together the best of project management and financial auditing to offer concerned professionals a "roadmap" to more control. It provides checklists and guidelines that enable project managers and internal auditors to work together.
The book should, of course, appeal to the above-mentioned professionals. It should also be read and understood by top-level corporate managers who want to make use of available professional skills to effectively fight fraud.
Determining Fraud bs. Mismanagement.......2005-02-12
Sub-Title: Preventing Project Fraud And Ensuring Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
Sarbanes-Oxley is one of those things that you really wish Congress had to apply to themselves rather than just imposing it on the rest of us. It has certainly made life interesting. In terms of project management, it's intent is to ensure that a project proceeds to work on its stated mission, correctly utilizing the projects resources, and eliminate improper dealings with project vendors for personal enrichment.
A key problem is to distinguish between fraud and mismanagement, conspiracy and incompetence. An interesting project discussed in the book is the California State Welfare Automation Project where the project was so confused that they still can't say if fraud ocurred. From this example the reporting procedures that may prevent the reocurrance of such situations is developed by looking as many areas where fraud can at least be expected to occur.
This situation wouldn't be so critical if the law weren't written so that people can be put in jail for not instituting proper controls where proper controls are a matter of opinion. This book gives the best analysis of current thinking, subject to change of course as the courts deal with the problem.
Book Description
"A wonderful character study of someone whose cognitive dissonance ('I am brilliant, therefore I must be doing everything correctly') led directly to his downfall. Students would do well to read this book before venturing forth into a large firm, a small firm, or any pressure-cooker environment."
-Nancy Rapoport, University of Houston Law Center
"Eat What You Kill is gripping and well written. . . . It weaves in academic commentary and understanding of professional ethics issues in a way that makes it accessible to everyone."
-Frank Partnoy, University of San Diego Law School
He had it all, and then he lost it. But why did he do it, risking everything-wealth, success, livelihood, freedom, and the security of family?
Eat What You Kill is the story of John Gellene, a rising star and bankruptcy partner at one of Wall Street's most venerable law firms. But when Gellene became entangled in a web of conflicting corporate and legal interests involving one of his clients, he was eventually charged with making false statements, indicted, found guilty of a federal crime, and sentenced to prison.
Milton C. Regan Jr. uses Gellene's case to prove that such conflicting interests are now disturbingly commonplace in the world of American corporate finance. Combining a journalist's eye with sharp psychological insight, Regan spins Gellene's story into a gripping drama of fundamental tensions in modern-day corporate practice and describes in perfect miniature the inexorable confluence of the interests of American corporations and their legal counselors.
This confluence may seem natural enough, but because these law firms serve many masters-corporations, venture capitalists, shareholder groups-it has paradoxically led to deep, pervasive conflicts of interest. Eat What You Kill gives us the story of a man trapped in this labyrinth, and reveals the individual and systemic factors that contributed to Gellene's demise.
Customer Reviews:
Well Told Story About An Intriguing Subject But Analysis Could Be Better.......2006-07-17
Eat What You Kill: The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer is the story of John Gellene, the only attorney to ever go to jail for making an incomplete disclosure of "connections" to creditors and parties in a bankruptcy case. While it is clear that Gellene committed an ethical lapse, the fact that he was prosecuted, convicted and served time is truly surprising. Others have failed to disclose much more and have suffered much lighter consequences. As a result, the question of why this particular case resulted in a prison sentence rather than a slap on the wrist is really interesting, particularly to lawyers.
This is a book about lawyers and the law, so that a little background on the law is helpful Representing large companies in bankruptcy is big business. The fees can run into the millions of dollars. In order to secure one of these potentially lucrative appointments, the lawyer must seek court approval of his employment and demonstrate that he is "disinterested." To show that he is "disinterested," the lawyer must submit a sworn statement disclosing his "connections" to the debtor and its creditors. Since the statement is submitted under penalty of perjury, a false statement is subject to criminal prosecution.
In the Gellene case, the large New York law firm of Milbank, Tweed was hired to represent Bucyrus-Erie Corporation in its bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy was very contentious because the largest unsecured creditor, Jackson National Life, had accused the company's investment banker, Goldman Sachs, with manipulating the company's financial affairs to its own benefit. Things got worse when a Goldman Sachs partner, Mikael Salovaara, started his own firm, South Street Fund, and that firm did a deal with Bucyrus-Erie which put them ahead of all the other creditors.
All this happened before bankruptcy lawyer John Gellene entered the picture. However, it created an adversarial situation between the company and between different groups of its creditors. The debtor's attorney would be caught in the middle of this conflict and would have to navigate it in order to successfully reorganize the company. John Gellene began representing Bucyrus-Erie a year before its bankruptcy at a time when his law firm was not representing either Salovaara or South Street. However, shortly before the case was filed, Milbank, Tweed began representing South Street in another bankruptcy and also represented Salovaara in a dispute with his partner. Both of these were "connections" with creditors. However, Gellene failed to disclose these relationships in either of two affidavits filed with the court.
Gellene successfully guided Bucyrus-Erie through its reorganization and his firm was paid nearly $2 million in fees for doing so. Unfortunately, his successful plan put the company's old adversary, Jackson National Life, in control of the company. Years later, Jackson found out about the failure to disclose and sued Milbank, Tweed to return its fees and for malpractice. This proved to be very costly for Milbank, Tweed but it was worse for John Gellene. The publicity spawned by the fee litigation prompted the U.S. Attorney to file criminal charges against Gellene. A deal to plead to a misdemeanor fell through and the case went to trial. The prosecution sought to portray the failure to disclose as black and white, the while the defense attempted to put the statement in context. The jury sided with the U.S. Attorney and Gellene was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Gellene went from being a highly respected bankruptcy attorney to a convicted felon in a relatively short period of time.
Eat What You Kill does a good job of telling the story and does an adequate job of explaining why this lawyer did what he did, but really fails to answer the big question of why John Gellene was prosecuted. The book does its best job at opening a window onto the pressures faced by a big firm lawyer struggling to survive but cutting corners to do so.
Part 1 of the book does a slow but methodical job of setting the stage. In particular, it describes the world of the large New York law firm where security is an illusion. Gone are the days where clients maintained loyalty to a single firm and firms maintained loyalty to their partners. This world was replaced by a much more fluid one where clients award their business to the best suitor and partners compete against each other in a continuous tournament to see who can bring in the most clients, or failing that, who can bill the most hours. In such a world, it is tempting to cut corners if doing so means being able to attract more business and bill more hours. Additionally, it creates an atmosphere where the "service partners," the ones who perform and supervise the work, must maintain the good will of the "rain makers" who bring in the clients.
Parts 2 and 3 of Eat What You Kill tell the guts of the story in a fast-paced, easy to read manner. It is exciting to watch (at least from a bankruptcy lawyer's vantage) as John Gellene tries strategy after strategy to bring the reorganization to a successful conclusion before the company implodes under the weight of the litigation. Then, just as Gellene has achieved success, everything comes crashing down on him with the weight of a Shakespearean tragedy.
Part 4 and the epilogue try to make sense of what happened. This part of the story could have benefited from a thorough job of editing and re-writing. Pieces of the story which were apparent from the original telling are replayed over and over again in over 70 pages of mind-numbing discussion without achieving a coherent explanation. The epilogue strays into proposals for reforming legal ethics while paying scant attention to the story.
It is possible for the reader to put together the "why" of John Gellene's actions, but it requires some patience. In short, Gellene was placed in an atmosphere where he had to succeed to survive. Disclosing the connections to Salovaara and South Street would have risked losing a lucrative piece of work that he had already been working on for a year. It would have also risked incurring the displeasure of his rain maker who controlled the relationships with Bucyrus-Erie, South Street and Salovaara. The disclosures were one piece of paper of thousands filed in the case. There must have been overwhelming pressure to give them scant attention and move on to more substantive issues. If Gellene did weigh the risks in any detail, he probably dismissed them, since disclosure violations frequently resulted in mild consequences. Thus, it is likely that John Gellene felt sucker-punched when he was indicted, tried and convicted.
Unfortunately, the book gives little emphasis to the "why" of his prosecution. White color prosecutions are rare and prosecutions for failure to disclose conflicts in a bankruptcy case are rarer still. In this case, the Asst. U.S. Trustee (an official charged with overseeing bankruptcy proceedings) had previously been the U.S. Attorney. Perhaps he approached the case with a prosecutor's mindset rather than from a bankruptcy point of view and thus was able to lobby for a prosecution. This was a case where a big New York law firm collected millions of dollars in fees in a case filed in Wisconsin. Perhaps jealousy and mistrust of outsiders played a role. Unfortunately, these themes are not discussed in any depth.
This is an interesting book about an interesting topic, but a revised edition could be better.
Spellbinding and hugely educational.......2005-08-11
Hats off to Professor Regan for his prodigious research and painstaking, vivid recreation of the saga of a prominent lawyer's startling rise and fall --an all-the-more remarkable achievement given Gellene's refusal to cooperate in this project. This is an amazing look-behind-the-curtain as to: how large law partnerships reward and penalize their producers and non-producers; how complicated bankruptcy negotiations unfold; how investment bankers and vulture investors exploit weakened corporations; how a brilliant professional succumbed under pressure to career-ending ethical blunders; and much more. An extremely valuable reading experience for practioners and students of law and business that deserves to be a best-seller.
Important book about ethics.......2005-08-09
Great book showing what can go wrong when law firms let top lawyers get away with violating common practices.
a patient reader reaps far more than an ethics case study.......2005-05-05
Read for: lessons in bankruptcy law and practice, junk bonds, vulture investment, corporate law generally, white collar crime and trial tactics, and a nuanced ethical exploration
Avoid if: seeking simple answers, easily bored by thorough and balanced legal arguments
"Eat What You Kill" explores in excruciating detail the rise and fall of John Gellene, bankruptcy attorney extraordinaire, who failed to disclose a conflict of interest which landed him in prison.
Yet Milton Regan's book offers more than an ethics case study. A blow-by-blow survey of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy litigation tactics, and white collar criminal prosecution, Regan's book overwhelms with useful instruction. Though focused upon Gellene's life at law, Regan uses it as a prism to explore the environment of many others swimming in the same waters.
Lay readers may find the professorial tone both vice and virtue, as the riches grow tiresome to anyone uninterested in following the pros, cons, counter-pros, and counter-cons of various litigation tactics and arguments. Within this web of contextual detail, the ethical story threads diverse legal doctrines.
Offering no simple denunciations or defenses, Regan sees Gellene as merely a lawyer who tends to lie to avoid the consequences of his own negligence. Flawed, perhaps, but hardly a gross flaw.
Refraining from potshots or praise permits Regan to hold Gellene accountable while looking more deeply into the practice of corporate law itself. Regan's conclusions seem to be that lawyers, preoccupied with the business of law, lose sight of its spirit.
terrific, gripping, insightful.......2004-12-23
A better read, simply as a page-turner, than many novels.
Gellene, the protagonist/anti-hero of this book, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Georgetown with degrees in philosophy and economics. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, then clerked for Justice Morris Pashman of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Pretty impressive resume, eh? He had the "world at his feet," yet before much more time had passed he was in a prison cell.
This book should act as a warning on several levels. On one of them, it warns a certain type of investor about the nature of the chapter 11 process (in the course of which Gellene made the false statements that led to his downfall). Vulture investing in the instruments of distressed companies going through this process isn't an explicit theme of the book, one it ends up here nonetheless. There are traps for vultures, too.
Product Description
Casebook for law students focusing on the ethical problems that arise in corporate practice.
Book Description
Never has ethical business conduct received as much attention and focus as it does at present, in the wake of the far-reaching financial and societal effects of the dramatic collapses that have thundered through Corporate America. Whether your company is private, publicly-held, works with the government - either contractually or through direct regulation - the establishment, communication and enforcement of a comprehensive set of ethical rules for business conduct within your organization is essential for conducting business now, and into the future. As corporate culture is ever evolving, a trend that will only accelerate in the future, and as ethics plays a central role in many decisions that employees make, it is now more important than ever to implement a corporate code of conduct for your workforce. Such a code will serve to set forth important ground rules, enabling employees to react responsibly to both legal and ethical dilemmas in a consistent manner, throughout an organization. Written by leading privacy lawyer Steven Barth of Foley & Lardner, this book will help you to establish a set of comprehensive and enforceable company-wide business behavioral rules that will govern such decisions for your employees. A corporate culture, generated under this ethical scope, will keep your company's vision in line with the law and even limit your liability exposure, should an ethical lapse occur. Use this book to establish fundamental rules and standards for your employees to serve as a roadmap for navigating the legal, ethical and moral dilemmas they face on a daily basis, in the ordinary course of conducting business. The book also includes the codes of conduct from Coca-Cola (as an exemplary model) and from Enron (as a poor model).
Download Description
Never has ethical business conduct received as much attention and focus as it does at present, in the wake of the far-reaching financial and societal effects of the dramatic collapses that have thundered through Corporate America. Whether your company is private, publicly-held, works with the government - either contractually or through direct regulation - the establishment, communication and enforcement of a comprehensive set of ethical rules for business conduct within your organization is essential for conducting business now, and into the future. As corporate culture is ever evolving, a trend that will only accelerate in the future, and as ethics plays a central role in many decisions that employees make, it is now more important than ever to implement a corporate code of conduct for your workforce. Such a code will serve to set forth important ground rules, enabling employees to react responsibly to both legal and ethical dilemmas in a consistent manner, throughout an organization. Written by leading privacy lawyer Steven Barth of Foley & Lardner, this book will help you to establish a set of comprehensive and enforceable company-wide business behavioral rules that will govern such decisions for your employees. A corporate culture, generated under this ethical scope, will keep your company's vision in line with the law and even limit your liability exposure, should an ethical lapse occur. Use this book to establish fundamental rules and standards for your employees to serve as a roadmap for navigating the legal, ethical and moral dilemmas they face on a daily basis, in the ordinary course of conducting business. The book also includes the codes of conduct from Coca-Cola (as an exemplary model) and from Enron (as a poor model).
Average customer rating:
|
Corporate Governance In Government Corporations (Law, Ethics and Governance)
Michael J. Whincop
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Ethics & Professional Responsibility
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Law Enforcement
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Business
| English Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Law Enforcement
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0754622762 |
Book Description
An understanding of the legal context of business is a prerequisite for today's global business environment and an essential aspect of the potential executive knowledge, yet too often it is poorly understood and even more poorly applied to business decisions.
This book provides comprehensive and, above all, business focused guidance on the fundamentals of business law and how they should be integrated into ethical and effective business decisions. It concentrates on legal principles and thereby is able to articulate the impact of global business law and its international applications and provides a comprehensive overview of the legal and ethical principles which both facilitate and regulate corporate business.
The author combines the expertise of a long-term blue chip law background with the insights of an experienced business educator. Law and Ethics in Global Business is both a comprehensive course book for MBA study and an invaluable business reference source for any executive involved in global business.
Customer Reviews:
Introduces business students to essential issues in law and ethics.......2007-06-01
A helpful book for introducing business students to essential issues in law and ethics. The text provides basic, easily-understood information for students. Nelson's approach permits instructors to supplement in a wide variety of ways, depending upon their course objectives.
- Kathleen Getz, Associate Professor of Global Corporate Citizenship,
Kogod School of Business, American University, USA.
A "must" for Business students.......2007-05-31
A very valuable new text, currently adopted onto our distance learning programmes as a core text. The law and ethics issues are a "must" for business students, and are delivered here in a user-friendly, but challenging, fashion.
- Dr. Alistair Benson, Academic Director, Manchester Business School Worldwide
A key focus for both business schools and law schools.......2007-05-31
In my career I have had the task of teaching business ethics to lawyers and teaching introductory business law to MBA students. Brian Nelson's Law and Ethics in Global Business would have helped considerably in both courses, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to students in the future. This interface of business ethics, business law, and business practice is becoming a key focus for both business schools and law schools.
- Professor Thomas Clarke, Director, Centre for Corporate Goverernance, UTS Sydney
Book Description
"If it's not fun, why do it?"
For many years Ben & Jerry's has donated 7.5 percent of its annual pretax profits to charitable causes -- the highest percentage of any publicly-held company. Yet the company has become an even more powerful agent for social change by embracing a "values-led" business philosophy. Values-led business is based on the idea that business, which has become the most powerful force in society, has to accept responsibility for the welfare of that society and the people in it. Values-led business is more encompassing and therefore more effective than philosophy alone. It also seeks to maximize its impact by integrating socially beneficial actions into as many of its day-to-day activities as possible from raw materials to retailing. In order to do that, values must guide a company's mission statement, strategy and operating plan.
Ben and Jerry write: "When we first decided to open an ice cream parlor, our goals were pretty modest. With this book we admit to having greater aspirations. We're hoping that reading it will free up a lot of people to do what their hearts and souls have been aching to do -- integrate social values into their daily business activities. If you're a business person reading this book, we hope to demonstrate that there's an alternative to the status quo. We hope you'll see that it's possible to run a business in a way that proactively supports society, and that as you integrate your values more and more, you'll be just as profitable., if not more so. If you're a shareholder, an employee, or a customer, we hope to convince you to bring those values to your interactions with business. We hope to help you to become aware that there's a different, more caring way for business to be -- and as employees, customers, and shareholders, to demand that business be that way."
Customer Reviews:
For people who can't figure out why you get 79% off.......2000-08-26
It's not just that Ben and Jerry's ideas are stupid; it's that these guys don't practice what they preach. There is an article that some naïve reviewers on this board should read. It's called "The Evil Empire" in the New Republic (hardly the voice of capitalism or the political right). Amazingly the New Republic finds Ben and Jerry's arrogance just too hard to swallow.
What does the article have to say?
On Ben and Jerry's success:
"With the publicity came the inevitable backlash: that Ben and Jerry are nothing more than New Age scam artists, feeding social consciousness to gullible yuppies and pocketing the cash. The scarier truth may be that they've scammed themselves. Like their fortysomething followers, they believe the most flattering image of themselves: that, despite their millions, they haven't sold out."
How Ben and Jerry discovered why CEOs get paid big salaries:
This doesn't mean the company is built on scandalous lies--just little white lies, mutual delusions that keep everyone happy. For example, one tenet of caring capitalism is to be "real," to "connect with the customer." This spirit is what drove the company's offbeat search for a new CEO. Early last summer, Ben and Jerry held a press conference to announce that Ben would step down as CEO. Profits had plummeted, the superpremium ice cream market was shrinking; in short, the company had grown too complicated for a "multi-college dropout and failed pottery teacher to run," Ben announced. What pained him most was the company's decision to give up the salary cap that had limited the top executive's salary to seven times that of the lowest-paid employee, the $8 an hour scooper (a sacrifice that had always obscured Ben's millions in stock shares).
And my favorite section of the Article when Ben and Jerry show their hypocracy for all the world to see:
"Then there are the inner-city initiatives that fail. If there are any doubts about B&J's bloodless business instincts, they can be dispelled by another holy man, the Reverend James Carter, who crossed the company's path in 1992. Back then, Carter ran a modest New Jersey bakery called LaSoul, where recovering addicts churned out pumpkin pies for the local groceries. A week after he saw Ben on ABC's "20/20," Carter packed up a trunk full of pies and drove to the company headquarters. Ben loved both the pies and "Reverend Carter's vision of building a sound business." In three weeks, Carter had a letter of intent to do business with the company, which he showed to the bank to borrow money for equipment. Ben flew down to New Jersey to tape a TV show of himself helping ex-addicts mix batches of the new Apple Pie frozen yogurt.
After two years, however, sales of the flavor were flagging. In May 1994, Ben and Jerry's drastically decreased its orders, leaving Carter with freezers full of pies. Frantic, Carter laid off all but two employees and called Ben. The next day, Ben flew to New Jersey, "sat down, looked them straight in the eye," and, recalls Carter, said, "Don't worry, we'll stick with you." But orders never picked up, and, this June, Carter received a letter from the company, by fax, that congratulated him on his "good works" and canceled all remaining orders. He was left half a million dollars in debt. "It's pretty cute, this social mission," Carter says bitterly. "But the bottom line is, Ben and Jerry's buried my company."
Ask Ben about the incident, and he sounds more like Gordon Gecko than Robin Hood: "We told Jim to find more customers. We gave him six months' notice." When the normally upbeat Alan Parker is reminded of a spreadsheet dated November 11, 1994, that projected $500,000 worth of orders from LaSoul in 1995, he replies: "That spreadsheet was given to him as a best-case scenario for volume expectations. Nothing about that memo could be construed as a firm commitment, and it's really disingenuous for him to cite it." Do they feel at all responsible? "Sure, we feel sad," says Parker. "But our sadness is tempered with `why are we being blamed?' We worked closely with him to make our demands on him easier, and that's not something many customers would do for their suppliers. In the end, LaSoul was just not a viable business enterprise."
Anyway for those who would rather read a true story than this useless book I suggest getting a hold of the whole article:
Source: New Republic, 9/11/95, Vol. 213 Issue 11, p22, 4p, 1 cartoon Author(s): Rosin, Hanna
Double-Dip is a Double-Flop.......2000-07-25
These two idealistic lefty entrepreneurs think that there should be a 100% tax on all income over $250,000... This offers a real incentive to work and build a business when the government takes away all the profit. This book should really be called "How to Run a Business While Supporting Anti-Business, Politically-Correct, Leftist Do-Gooder Causes." However, if your IQ is the same "temperature" as Ben-and-Jerry's ice cream, than this rag will certainly satisfy your appetite for mouth-watering politically correct jibberish.
enjoyable portrayal of the "other" side of big business.......2000-07-21
great book for those who HATE big business and its "selfishness". Although the book, I think, is poorly written at times, it is always very interesting as it offers a perspective one NEVER hears about in the business section of the newspaper or in business/management books. More execs should read this and thing long and hard about their "social mission", as well as their strategies. The social effort seems to have worked well for B&J.
Great story of a different kind of company.......2000-06-21
Here is the story of how two guys built a company that 1) Makes money, and 2) has a social conscience. It details the dilemna's, decisions, and trade-offs that Ben and Jerry's had to make between the myriad of forces that regularly tug at the company because of its mission, and the realities of the marketplace. For example, it shows how B&J dealt with their brownie supplier in inner city New York when the supplier couldn't handle the capacity and quality that B&J required.
Very inspirational AND very pragmatic!
Great Guys, Great Company.......1999-06-18
I listened to this book on audiotape. Ben and Jerry discuss how the idea of an Ice Cream Shop came about, how it almost didn't happen, then how it became a growing successful business. They tell the business side as well as the human side of their venture, with actual stories, from both points of view. They stressed the importance of running a company that was fun to work at, that cared about the employees, and gave back to the community. Together they explain what a values lead company is all about, and why employees want to be a part of their team. Then they discuss how they and other values lead companies work together to help charitable causes and why it is so important to them. I was fascinated with their sincere ongoing dedication to charitable causes and their devotion to employee satisfaction. This was a great book, very inspiring from the business point of view and heart warming as well.
Average customer rating:
|
The Company Doctor: Risk, Responsibility, and Corporate Professionalism
Elaine Draper
Manufacturer: Russell Sage Foundation Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Health Care Delivery
| Administration & Policy
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Medical Ethics
| Physician & Patient
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Obstetrics & Gynecology
| Specialties
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Occupational & Industrial Medicine
| Specialties
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
| Cardiology
| Critical Care
| Endocrinology & Metabolism
| Gastroenterology
| General
| Hematology
| Hepatology
| Infectious Disease
| Nephrology
| Neurology
| Oncology
| Pulmonary
| Rheumatology
| Urology
Health Care Delivery
| Administration & Medicine Economics
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Medical Ethics
| Medicine
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Occupational
| Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0871542498 |
Average customer rating:
|
Conflicts of Interest and Duty:A Comparative Analysis in Anglo-Japanese Law (Studies in Comparative Corporate and Financial Law)
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Constitutional Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Corporate Law
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Maritime
| Specialties
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Business
| English Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Corporate Law
| Business
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Constitutional Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Maritime
| Specialties
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9041196986 |
Book Description
The almost relentless concentration of capital and the amalgamation of services within the financial services industries of the UK, the US and Japan have created an unparalleled potential for the development and exploitation of conflicts of interest and duty. While these pressures are not new to those who handle other people's wealth, given the vital importance of the major financial markets as efficient and fair allocators of capital, the implications, legal and otherwise, of such conflicts are of considerable practical significance to intermediaries and those whom they serve. Conflicts of Interest and Duty focuses on the identification, control and implications of conflicts of interest and duty in these three major financial markets. The pervading effect of US securities law is analysed, as is the pragmatism of the English common law, and the hybrid response of Japanese law and regulators. The work explores in legal and business terms the notion of conflict of interest and duty, from the perspective of investors, financial intermediaries and those concerned to ensure fairness and probity in the markets. Consequently it will be of interest to all those who manage or handle other people's investments, their professional advisors, the clients themselves, those charged with regulating the markets and those responsible for framing the law. Having regard to the practical importance of US Federal law and English common law and the essentially Civil origins of Japanese commercial law, the reach of this book is truly international. Few, if any, regulatory systems in today's global market remain uninfluenced by, the legal experience of the UK, the US and Japan.
Books:
- The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens: 8 Steps to Having More Money Than Your Parents Ever Dreamed Of (Motley Fool)
- The Nature of Risk (Contrary Opinion Library)
- The Option Trader's Guide to Probability, Volatility and Timing (A Marketplace Book)
- The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship
- The Second Great Depression
- The Secret (Unabridged, 4-CD Set)
- The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary
- The Swaps & Financial Derivatives Library: Products, Pricing, Applications and Risk Management, 3rd Edition Revised (Boxed Set) (Wiley Finance)
- Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders
- Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Designing a Digital Portfolio
- The Curtain Sketchbook 2
- Kill Bill: An Unofficial Casebook
- Michelangelo's Drawings: The Science of Attribution
- Teach Yourself VISUALLY Chess
- The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding i
- The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem: Ecology, Silviculture, and Restoration
- Financial Accounting, Self Study Problems/Solutions Book
- Intermediate Accounting: 7th Ed / Rockford Corporation Practice Set with Diskette
- Rectangle Of Sins
Harvard Business Review on Corporate Responsibility (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)
Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment
Corporation Be Good! The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility
What Matters Most: How A Small Group of Pioneers Is Teaching Social Responsibility To Big Business, and Why Big Business Is Listening
