The Way it was: 1997.

The Three Stages of Activism

The evolution of institutional activism falls into three distinct stages. During the early years (1987-1990) activists were intensely focused on takeovers and control. Proposals were designed to eliminate poison pills, golden parachutes, greenmail, fair price provisions, and other defensive practices that shareholders felt infringed on their rights and reduced the value of their investment. But activists were also pursuing a more important objective: defining a role for shareholders in corporate decisionmaking. The second stage (1990-1992) centered on reform of the proxy rules. Two issues -- financial performance and board accountability -- dominate the third and current stage of institutional activism.

Activists' goals, as well as their tactics, have matured. Proponents now target companies either for poor financial performance or egregious governance practices. The selection process, which utilizes quantitative performance measures and checklists of governance policies and standards, has become a central activity in activists' self-defined role as corporate overseers. The annual publication of the Council of Institutional Investors' "Focus 20" list of targeted underperformers is one of many such governance media events....Activism's growing focus on financial performance has transformed both the dialogue and the level of cooperation between companies and large activist institutions.

John Wilcox, chairman of Georgeson & Co. Inc., in "A 10-year Quest for Director Accountability" [Fall 1997]. He joined the firm, a specialist in proxy solicitations, investor analysis, and other advisory activities, in 1973.

Investors Will Pay for Good Governance

There are three main reasons why investors will pay a premium for good governance:

* Some believe that a company with good governance will perform better over time, leading to a higher stock price. This group is primarily trying to capture upside, long-term potential.

* Others see good governance as a means of reducing risk, as they believe it decreases the likelihood of bad things happening to a company. Also, when bad things do happen, they expect well-governed companies to rebound more quickly.

* Still others regard the recent increase in attention to governance as a fad. However, they tag along because so many investors do value governance. As this group sees it, the stock of a well-governed company may be worth more simply because governance is such a hot topic these days.

Robert Felton and Alec Hudnut of McKinsey & Co., and Jennifer Van Heeckeren, a professor at the University of Oregon, reporting on their study in "Putting a Value on Governance" [Spring 1997].

What About Relative Returns?

In over 30 years of experience as a corporate director, I have seen many directors make valuable contributions to companies' progress based on their own areas of expertise, general experience, and wisdom. Yet, I am sometimes surprised at how little some of them know about the relative returns to the shareholders of...

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