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January 25, 2008
American College President authors new book on scandals -- Crisis Leadership Now
Today's European Trading Scandal Highlights Need for Crisis Planning on Corporate Agenda
Just made announcement by European investment banker Societe Generale that a single employee allegedly committed a $7 billion case of trading fraud points to the need for employers to heighten safeguards against internal and external threats, according to a recently released book by the President of The American College.
"Stock option backdating, subprime losses and credit card theft represent market exposures that raise questions about Board governance and internal controls," notes Laurence Barton, Ph.D. "Where were the auditors? Who has accountability and where is the outcry," he notes.
Barton, a widely quoted analyst and professor at The College who is the former vice president of crisis management for Motorola worldwide noted: "Crisis management is more than safety awareness - what can companies do to prevent all kinds of threats, from workplace violence to structural failures and product recalls? We are witnessing a profound lack of quality assuredness in management oversight that extends across industries."
His new book, Crisis Leadership Now, was released by McGraw-Hill. In the book, Barton analyzes more than 400 scandals that impacted notable companies including jetBlue, Marsh, Virginia Tech, Hewlett-Packard and British Petroleum. He found that a lack of crisis auditing on risk exposures often contributes to a problem blossoming into an organizational crisis that can affect the financial condition, brand and recruiting power of an organization.
Photo: Societe Generale Loses $7 Billion to Fraudulent Trader: The Bank of France said on Thursday it would open an inquiry into a fraud at French bank Societe Generale which could have a 4.9 billion euros (3.7 billion pounds) negative impact on the group.
"Society Generale's credibility and potentially its future is on the line today," he adds. "A recommended roadmap is to admit to a profound lack of controls, the absence of detailed, daily oversight and the need for transparency. Offers of executive resignations are not enough. Winning back the confidence of the investment community requires a massive organizational commitment to detailed accounting forensics by external parties," he adds.
"You cannot rely solely on your insurance company to bail you out," Barton notes. "Senior executives must own risk and crisis planning, assess the preparedness of their human resources, security and legal teams to harness solutions quickly when a risk emerges, and they must be flawless at communicating real-time," he adds. "Whether it's Virginia Tech, a mall shooting or a product recall, we still come back to basics: What did you know? When did you know it? What did you do about it?" he asks. |GlobalGiants.com|
Source: The American College
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 7:57 AM | View the original post
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: GROWTH OF SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS SEEN AS POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Photo: Philip Yea, Chief Executive, 3i Group, United Kingdom, captured during the session 'Private Equity and Hedge Funds - Friend or Foe?' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum at the Swiss Alpine High School in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Annette Boutellier)
Photo: Henry A. Kissinger (R), Chairman, Kissinger Associates, USA; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008, and Shimon Peres, President of Israel, captured during the session 'Orchestrating a New Concert of Powers' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Annette Boutellier)
Photo: Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP, United Kingdom, captured during the session 'Rebuilding Brand America: Five Suggestions for the Future President' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Remy Steinegger)
Photos: William H. Gates III, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, USA, captured during the session 'A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Remy Steinegger)
Photo: Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, News Corporation, USA captured during the session 'Rebuilding Brand America: Five Suggestions for the Future President' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Remy Steinegger)
Photo: Emma Thompson, Actor and Writer, United Kingdom, expresses her thoughts during the session 'Future Shifts: The Voice of the Next Generation' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Monika Flueckiger)
Photo: Tzipi Livni, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, addresses the audience during the session 'Middle East: After Annapolis, After Paris' at the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2008. (Copyright by World Economic Forum. Photo by Andy Mettler)
Davos, Switzerland, 24 January 2008 - The growing financial clout of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) - government-controlled vehicles created to invest the foreign currency reserves of many major oil producers and other exporters - should be welcomed, not opposed, by global policy-makers, panellists at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 agreed today.
The rising importance of these funds - as seen by their recent investments in troubled financial institutions in the US and Europe - has attracted widespread media attention, fuelling public concern about their potential political influence. Yet, for the most part, these fears bear no relation to the funds' actual behaviour. "These are among the most professional investors in the world," noted Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Blackstone Group, USA. "In our experience, there is virtually no difference between going to a sovereign fund [for investment capital] and going to a state pension fund in the US."
Schwarzman was speaking at a panel session entitled "Myths and Realities of Sovereign Wealth Funds". The panel also included fund managers from Kuwait and Norway, key government officials from the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and a noted economist and former US Treasury Secretary. For the most part, these participants agreed that the SWFs represent a valuable pool of stable, long-term capital, and have reduced, rather than increased, capital market volatility.
The need for standards cuts both ways, argued Robert M. Kimmitt, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. Recipient countries need to make it clear that they will not block investments from foreign sources, including the SWFs, merely on political grounds. G7 leaders, he noted, have asked the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to work with both sovereign investors and recipients of that investment to develop voluntary guidelines. Drafts of these standards should be ready for review by the autumn IMF/World Bank meetings, he said. |GlobalGiants.com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 2:24 AM | View the original post
VERIZON WIRELESS FLIPSHOT
Photo: The Verizon Wireless FlipShot(TM) by Samsung is now available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide USA. The Verizon Wireless FlipShot by Samsung comes in either red or black and features a 3.0 megapixel built-in camera with Digital Zoom, a rotating display for optimal viewing while in camera mode,and more. |GlobalGiants.com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 1:36 AM | View the original post
