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Business Strategy for Software Executives |
April 16 , 2007 |
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Elephants in the BoardroomThe challenges which exist between the CEO and the Board can be easily seen - and overcome - if you know what to watch for.By Richard A. Moran, Venrock Associates An elephant almost always joins the festivities when the CEO and the Board gather. This is not an elephant that stomps around and trumpets trouble. It’s a pachyderm who is very subtle but big enough to complicate the dynamics in the relationship between a CEO and the Board of Directors. The “elephants” are the big issues that can put a divide between the CEO and the Board if they are not resolved. They are often so big that everyone sees them, but no one wants to address them. But sometimes they can be so large that no one even sees them. The tricky relationship between management and the Board is fueled by business issues, style, decision making power, and all the stakeholders involved. The rigors of corporate governance compound the dynamic with committee charters, proper policies and procedures, independent directors and plenty of counsel. Compliance cloned the elephant in the room into a herd. By recognizing the common challenges in management-Board relations, companies can follow three basic principles to overcome most of them and greatly improve the productivity of the relationship.
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Lou Dobbs is Right - and Wrong
Between a Rock and Capital SpendingThe latest capital spending reports do not bode well for software growth this year – or in the future, according to Erik Keller of Wapiti LLC. Read why Erik thinks the latest software trends combined with a weak macroeconomic outlook spell trouble for traditional software vendors in this week’s post to his SandHill.com Blog, The Software Critic. Publish Your Perspective!The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and we’ll publish them in our blog.
How to Foster InnovationFew technology companies are as savvy about innovation as Intuit. Read this interview with CEO Bill Campbell and learn how he has managed innovation for his company and others in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly. News Update: Rising StarsUp-and-coming software companies make the news; plus, the first IPO filing of the year, a new foe for Microsoft and a new buy for salesforce.com Read these stories and more software news of the week in the latest SandHill.com Software News Summary. How to Punish Corporate Fraud?Former CA CEO Sanjay Kumar agreed to pay $800 million in restitution for his fraud conviction and prosecutors may be pursuing charges against the former CEO, Charles Wang. Are these cases the right answer to corporate fraud? Last week, readers gave their opinions as to what should be done about the H-1B visa program. More at SandHill.com:Forrester's Latest Take on SOA. CoMeT Solutions receives $2 million. Technorati buys Personal Bee. JAJAH names Trevor Healy as CEO. Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site. Parting Thought“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their jobs done.” Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group |
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