A favorite question of mine for any CEO: What’s the toughest thing about your business? I guarantee you any executive in the supermarket industry will rank among his or her top headaches the hiring and retention of good people, in an industry where service quality increasingly is the mark of differentiation, and worker turnover is … Read More
Floating rate notes (FRNs) are bonds that have a variable coupon that is pegged to a reference rate, typically LIBOR, plus a fixed spread. There are several variations of FRNs, but this article will focus on those utilized to fulfill IRC Section 1042 requirements.
In the wake of this cooperative’s recently concluded $4M stock offering, Equal Exchange created a single document that explains all of our unorthodox capital model…
This Critical Mass Radio Show discusses why, when and how business owners should choose the ESOP path as the correct succession strategy…
Peoria, Ill., without Caterpillar (CAT)? Benton Harbor, Mich., without Whirlpool (WHR)? Columbus, Ind., without Cummins Engine (CMI)? One of America’s under-appreciated relationships is the one between smaller cities and bigger companies, an often-happy exchange of quality-of-life for the combination of well-paying and skilled jobs, economic growth and stability, and corporate generosity to support cultural and … Read More
In Corvallis, Oregon, a couple miles north of the Oregon State University campus, sits a WinCo Foods discount supermarket and, unless you’re in need of groceries, you might drive by without noticing it. I assure you, however, it’s an extraordinary building, a laboratory of capitalism worthy of pilgrimages by the world’s great business schools. It … Read More
Nypro, Inc., a global leader in manufactured precision plastic products headquartered in Clinton, Massachusetts, had one of the largest employee stock ownership plans in the United States and was often held up as an example of best practices in that area. However, in early 2012, its president and chief executive officer became increasingly concerned that … Read More
I hate to say it, but here goes: too many Americans, including highly-educated and experienced business people, have just plain given up on this country’s manufacturing industries, believing low-cost producers in China and elsewhere are unbeatable. And many of these same knowledgeable people would also tell you that solving the country’s retirement savings crisis is … Read More
On Chicago’s North Side, decades after other manufacturing companies went bust, migrated to the South or outsourced everything to China, S&C Electric – a $700 million-a-year maker of equipment for utilities – stood independent, profitable and debt free. Then, its controlling stockholder, John C. Conrad, died at age 89, and like so many family companies … Read More
This Review looks at ‘short-termism’ within British business: the pressure to focus on short-term results to the possible detriment of the long-term health of a company, or even a whole industry. The investigation confirmed that short-termism constrains the ambition of UK business, holding back its development and inhibiting economic growth…
This book describes the full spectrum of equity compensation plans (such as stock options, stock purchase plans, stock grants, restricted stock, phantom stock, and stock appreciation rights) available to private and public companies as well as LLCs. Unlike most books on equity compensation, it focuses on helping decision-makers decide what kinds of equity to choose, and who should get how much and when.
What do veteran ESOP companies have much to teach us about what it takes to sustain employee ownership over the long term?
We investigate which factors influence 44,649 employees’ decision to invest in a top retail banking group in France. We have two objectives: (i) to explore factors associated with the amount invested in the plan, and (ii) to explore whether these factors have same associations with the probability of investing more than the incentive pay i.e. … Read More
The case introduces students to the concepts of employee stock options, stock-splits and buybacks, multiple share classes, and the basics of equity investment and diversification.
Rising inequality of income and power, along with recent convulsions in the finance sector, have made the search for alternatives to unbridled capitalism more urgent than ever. Yet few are attempting this task—most analysts argue that any attempt to rethink our social and economic relations is utopian. Erik Olin Wright’s major new work is a … Read More
Technically, an ESOP is a retirement plan and serves the purpose of accumulating retirement savings for the company’s employees. In practice, however, they can act as a cash buyer of private company stock, thus creating a source of liquidity for the company’s owners.
We examine how employee ownership is used to solve the agency problem between institutional investment management firms and employees.
There are three reasons for promoting mutual building societies: they are less prone than banks to pursue risky speculative activity; a mixed system produces a more stable financial sector; and a stronger mutual sector enhances competition within the financial system.
This paper explores how share repurchases affect the extant employee compensation contracts and offer a new explanation for the popularity of stock buybacks.
Through this article, we will demonstrate how the creation of private insurance coverage for ESOPs would help to eliminate, or at least reduce, the problem of the large downside risks associated with these quasi-retirement plans. In order to fully develop this assertion and the reasoning behind it, we will explore how ESOPs fit within ERISA. … Read More
Fair trade and beverage pioneer, Equal Exchange, has teamed up with socially progressive bank, Wainwright Bank, to raise capital, protect its independence, and create a new financial product for investors.
This study investigates the impacts on the equity values of private venture-backed firms of the organizational depth to which they grant employee stock options.
Details a thinly disguised situation faced by a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options.
Students prepare an analysis of Microsoft Corporation’s financial statements and footnotes to understand the impact of its use of stock options.
The author considers the idea that employee ownership of the organizations they work in can influence the dynamics of ‘sustainable peace.’