Description
Book SynopsisAttempts to reveal how shareholder pressures have transformed the inside structures of many American corporations since the late 1980s. Drawing on numerous sources, Useem shows that organizational changes have affected many areas of corporate life, and particularly its governance.
Trade ReviewExecutive Defense is an incisive account of the critical organizational changes that many publicly owned companies are making today. For example, either in response to investor urging or proactively, executives are restructuring the way they evaluate and manage managers to foster a mutuality of interests between employees and shareholders. Useem gives the reader a candid account of how companies are changing in this and other ways to increase their long-term value to shareholders. -- Jack M. Greenberg, Vice-Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, McDonald’s Corporation
Michael Useem provides a wide-ranging and timely study of the rapidly shifting relations between major companies and large investors.
Executive Defense reveals how companies are changing their organization, compensation, and governance in response to, and sometimes in anticipation of, the new institutional pressures. Whether you are an investor, manager, or observer, this book’s insights are essential for understanding the changing face of ownership and management in American business. -- Richard H. Koppes, General Counsel, California Public Employee’s Retirement System
The last fifteen years have been momentous ones for large American corporations—downsizing, decentralization, globalization and ruthless combination have all occurred. Michael Useem shows how in this large-scale reconfiguration managerial interests have become increasingly realigned to match stockholder interests. The process has been painful and uneven in its realization. Nevertheless, he has shown how the managerial revolution has been redirected. Masterfully combining case studies and quantitative data,
Executive Defense is an exciting study of recent corporate history. -- Mayer N. Zald, University of Michigan
