Charkham, a former Bank of England aide and member of the United Kingdom's Cadbury Committee (which produced a 1992 report on the financial aspects of corporate governance), offers an informative (if occasionally donnish) primer on how private enterprises are managed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and the US. Broadly speaking, corporate governance (a term of art that defies concise definition) involves the ways in which professionals run publicly held companies and their accountability to investors and other constituencies (often referred to as stakeholders). Before getting down to cases on different business practices, the author provides context with audits of the banking, cultural, labor, legal, regulatory, and tax regimes that obtain in each country. From that base he goes on to examine the advantages, benefits, and failings of various approaches to governance, addressing the considerable authority ceded most American CEOs by directors, the value Japanese executives place on collegial deliberation and consensus, the discipline imposed on corporate stewards by takeover threats, and the frequently adversarial roles played by activist institutions in the US and (to a lesser extent) the UK. Covered as well are the autocratic powers of France's corporate chieftains (which the author speculates may derive from the esteem still accorded historical figures like Napoleon and de Gaulle), Germany's two-tier board system, and the administrative principles common to all industrial powers. In a windup chapter, Charkham reaches the arguable conclusion that, on balance, Germany and Japan have the most efficient systems of corporate governance. A detailed and enlightening introduction to a socioeconomic construct that is a vital determinant of the wealth of nations.
Pub Date: April 17, 1994
ISBN: 0-19-828828-X
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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