Governance Under Fire at Tyco
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Category Archives: Corporate governance
The CEO who wouldn’t leave
I found that a recent article in BusinessWeek can be used as an interesting reading to explore power & politics in the context of M&A. 
The article describes how William Johnson was designated as CEO of Duke Energy after its acquisition of Progress Energy and how he was fired after only two hours. The original M&A agreement included a condition that stated that the CEO of the target (Progress Energy) would be named CEO of the merged company. However, he was fired two hours after the designation and the CEO of the acquirer (Duke Energy) was named CEO of the merged company. I think this article could motivate to further study this acquisition. It seems to be a novel illustration of a hostile acquisition.
Contributed by Francisco Morales
Daily Show: Energy independence
In a humorous take, Jon Stewart looks at the past 8 U.S. presidents and notes that they all made detailed promises to move toward energy independence. The clip is a little long but can be used to raise questions about difficulties in implementation. Why were none of them successful? Interestingly, today with natural gas and fracking technologies, significant progress has been made on energy independence. However, this might not be the innovation that Jon Stewart was looking for. One might discuss why this is the case in class…
Contributed by Aya Chacar
Delta Dental – A funny take on diversification
Here are 3 classic Delta Dental commercials that illustrate inefficient diversification (in a funny way)!
See the other two if you click here: Continue reading
Acquire Box Game
“Acquire is a box game that is easy to learn and can be played in about an hour by four players. I bought a dozen games and break the class up into teams and link the game to cases on rivalry, competition, and acquisitions. It does a great job of putting students in the position to see how serendipity and strategy interact, and how your wins are a function of others’ actions, intentions and hubris. The first site below actually has a couple of free and simple DOS versions of the game that students can use for practice and familiarization.” Click Here to Access
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics (various)
The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics has launched a free online video series, the Masters Seminars in Business Ethics. Topics include: Building Trust with Stakeholders, Creating a Culture of Integrity, Teaching Business Ethics, and History of the CSR Movement.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Big Box Mart (play on Wal-Mart)
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
jibjab video on Big Box Mart. There was a 60 minute PBS Frontline program on “is Walmart good for America,” which this 3 minute video essentially summarizes.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Value Appropriation with a Midas Touch
This story on “A Current Affair” depicts the tremendous negative impact of Midas’ corporate troubles on the lives of its franchisees. It explores value appropriation between a franchisee/franchiser. This illustrates how extreme value appropriation efforts can lead to value destruction. Once the company was in trouble, the CEO was forced out and the stakeholders vied for whatever value they could gain from the pieces.Here is an article on the sale of the Australian operations.
Contributed by Aya Chacar
A Dilbertian Perspective on Organizations
In business, why do the stupid always rise to the top? And what’s an “action item?” These and other mysteries are explored in this animated series that chronicles the corporate life of an engineer named Dilbert and his talking dog, Dogbert. Just like Dilbert, you could waste days previewing these hilarious digs on business (I open my M&A class with the opening minutes from The Merger video).
Greed is good speech
Gordon Gecko’s (Michael Douglas) Greed is good speech from Wallstreet; great intro for a session that talks about M&A and market discipline.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 