Reward Governance Case

Many members of the supervisory and managing boards get an annual bonus not depending on the financial results. Collaborators usually do not receive such a bonus. More and more people are criticizing this policy. This case presents a discussion at a board meeting, wherein board member proposes a bonus for all collaborators of this company.

University Governance Case

This case addresses the challenge of leadership succession in a highly respected master’s program at a university in Australia. The director, who was also the program’s lead professor, was due to retire, and the distinctive nature of the program made it particularly difficult to find a suitable replacement. To complicate the challenge, the university’s central administration was not supportive of that master’s degree, whereas it achieved the highest satisfaction ratings in the university from students and enjoyed good support from industry; the director’s insistence on quality of educational experience resulted in tight control of student admission, fewer students, and lower revenue than competing programs.A highly engaged group of students and alumni took on this challenge, working with the outgoing director to sustain impressive results over a 5-year period.

Board–Management Collaboration Case

The case describes challenges that commonly arise between board and management in not for profits (NPFs), specifically, (a) questions of strategy related to changes in funding; (b) questions of culture related to the informality of relations among board members, management, and staff; and (c) questions of authority related to the disparity in involvement between volunteer board and professional management. Based on a description of how these challenges played out in an international NGO, an analysis of what was needed to address them, and a presentation of recommendations that were successfully applied, the case provides boards and managements of NPFs a blueprint for how to build stronger collaboration and offers students of NPFs a model for study.

University Direction Case

This chapter contributes to the university governance literature by analysing the living case of a foundation university. The case is supported by the agency and stakeholder theory and the shared university governance models, such as Academic-Business-Corporate (ABC) of University Governance and the Integrated New University Governance (reversed KISS framework).

NPO Governance Case

Social organizations play a very important role in ensuring social cohesion and well-being, but constraints on public expenditure mean fiercer competition for financial resources and greater difficulties in accessing these resources.This case study is focused on CAJIL, a nonprofit social organization that, in this demanding context, is implementing a large-scale investment project. For this reason, CAJIL needs to reinforce the governance structure to assure investors and the implicated public institutions that CAJIL is capable of completing the project and responding to the management challenges associated with the increase in activity and complexity linked to this investment.

A Case of Responsible Restructuring as Good Governance

Company expansion shapes people’s lives by offering new opportunities in which to grow, contribute, and flourish; but company downsizing can have a lasting impact on their lives as well. How a tenure of employment ends is just as important as how it begins. Outplacement is the process of transferring talent and expertise from one company to another as a result of downsizing. When rapid strategic change requires companies to downsize quickly and at short notice, the dilemma arises of how to do so responsibly. At Swiss consumer health and beauty company NCI, Rene Renz was given less than 48 hours to develop and complete a downsizing process that would reduce headcount by more than half. His solution shows how responsible outplacement goes beyond tangible, numbers-related aspects by addressing intangible aspects, such as handling employee distress, and ultimately helping employees to embrace their future.

Start-Up Investor Governance Case

In the current age of innovative business financing opportunities available from fintech apps, social media crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and RocketHub, et.al., and friends and family private equity investors, start-up firms can strategically source their venture capital funds from many globally disperse organizations and individuals. As the firm in this case learned, the benefit of alternative investing sources comes with a critical hidden risk for corporate governance. After a financial restructuring, a typical Silicon Valley software start-up found itself with close to 300 external individual shareholders, some of whom had not been documented as accredited investors. The regulatory agency could decide that the prior actions of the founders and the decisions of the board had been prejudicial to the interests of the minority investors. The management of this small private company faced an atypical investor relations dilemma, before its initial public offering (IPO).

Succession Planning Governance Case

Michael Miller is the founder of a successful international high-tech company in the medical field. The total staff includes 3500 employees, 90% of which are outside Switzerland.Miller’s company was successful in acquiring Phamtex International, another family-owned company. Miller offered the CEO position for the new merged company to John Kennedy who was the successful former CEO of Phamtex International.Suddenly Michael Miller realized that he had no successor for John Kennedy in case of his leave.

Board of Directors as a Strategic Sparring Partner

What role can board of directors play in the strategy process of an SME? The case of “Light-Tech” (a luxury lamp producer) shows how. The chairman and several of the other directors had bad feelings about the issue of technology replacement. Contrary to the top management team, they were not convinced that the breakthrough of the new LED technology in the market was still far away. To address this issue, the board of directors—together with the executive team—performed a scenario analysis for about 3 hours. Then, the board requested the top management team to formulate a precautionary strategy which much better prepares the SME for the pessimistic scenario. Result: 2 years later, the pessimistic scenario reveals itself as reality. By performing a scenario analysis together with the top management team, the board of directors were able to play an important role as constructive sparring partners.

Owner–CEO Collaboration Case

The combination of owner and CEO roles can be both a blessing and a disaster. The success mainly depends on professional and personal skills of the person in charge. HR competence and financial literacy are compulsory for a CEO. It is reasonable to separate ownership and company’s guidance in case when the owner is insufficiently skilled in these areas.