Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач

Пусенкова Нина

5. fickle, apt to change, lively

6. secret agreement for a deceitful or fraudulent purposes, esp. between persons pretending to be adversaries or competitors

7. to induce to a certain course of action, esp. to a wrong course, by the gift or offer of something valued

8. changed from the natural character or original simplicity

Exercise 3. Analyze the potential for conflict between managers and shareholders in Russian companies. Describe a corporate conflict that has happened in Russia.

Exercise 4*. Fill in the blanks using terms given below.

The Boss on the Sidelines

How Auditors, Directors and Lawyers Are Asserting their Power

If anybody needed proof that the…… in Corporate America has……… Maurice R. Greenberg…….. it on March 13. While the imperious chairman and CEO of American International Group Inc. was aboard his yacht on the Florida coast, his company’s……. directors faced an urgent crisis: a growing……. that seemed to lead straight to the CEO. As directors debated whether to cut Greenberg loose, the 79-year-old titan lashed out at them by telephone:

«This board is being….. by a bunch of lawyers who can’t spell the word ‘insurance’! If you get rid of me, you will……. this company!» It was the kind of intimidation that had helped Greenberg….. unprecedented power in his four decades at the…….. of the insurer. But this time, the bullying didn’t work. Within a day, Greenberg, once the most powerful man in the industry, was out as CEO.

Greenberg failed to…… the first rule of this new era: that directors, auditors, and….. are more powerful than ever. That shift has fundamentally altered…….. between CEOs and the advisers. At their best, these supposed guardians of……, chosen for their ability to complement the CEO and provide specific areas of……., were trusted counselors. At their worst, they were little more than sycophants. Either way, these advisers – who were always supposed to work for the……… not the CEO – usually……… their power as watchdogs only in moments of genuine crisis. But now the chumminess has given way to a more adversarial…… This new……. has helped to get rid of Boeing CEO Harry C. Stonecipher, Walt Disney CEO Michael D. Eisner, and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carleton S. Fiorina, among others.

The watchdogs are finally facing genuine…….. for their……. The Big Five in the accounting world became the Big Four after prosecutors……. put Arthur Andersen out of business for its role in the Enron scandal. Meanwhile, directors at the……. Houston energy giant and WorldCom are paying off fraud……. from their own pockets.

The result of all this is a climate of fear. Directors….. and lawyers are worried, first and foremost, about protecting their hides. The old attitude of informal…… with the CEO has been replaced by a new spirit of legalistic formality. When red flags arise, directors are quicker than ever to hire…… attorneys to…… potential wrongdoing.

That often leads to an elaborate game of shift the……. The….. of the moment is: «Put it in writing.» Some auditors are afraid even to talk to CEOs and CFOs about the appropriate accounting……… for complex………

The new…….. is making everything about running a company more difficult for CEOs. The watchdogs are playing a bigger role in……. management decisions about strategy, acquisitions, succession planning, crisis response, and what can be booked as earnings. «Life is going to be much tougher for the Imperial CEO,» says Robert S. Miller Jr., a…….. specialist. «It is what shareholders want.»

CEOs are now being managed with sticks. This is a fundamentally different…… philosophy than the one that prevailed during the bubble years, when bosses were primarily motivated with carrots – otherwise known as……. Both of these approaches were driven by the business crises: the…….. failure of corporate leaders in the 1980s, whose pay was not linked to………, and the greed of CEOs in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, whose pay was linked to………

The new vigilance will almost certainly provide some clarity in corporate governance and cut down on…….. But as is often the case, the new rules may initially go too far and create their own distinctive…… of problems. Directors, auditors, and lawyers are going to get higher…… in the future. And the……. of their advice may well decline. Why? When really tough……. arise – involving risky……, aggressive……… or gray-area accounting – CEOs have always been able to turn to board members and professionals for advice. Now candid conversations are virtually taboo.

……… is an equally important danger. CEOs can soon become……… preferring to pursue strategies that are

«safe» but ultimately unwise rather than risk confrontations with…… over bolder, but smarter, moves. Kenneth G. Langone, the Home Depot Inc. co-founder, warned of the danger that America would have «the best-governed, worst-managed» corporations in the world.

In a remarkably short period of time, Corporate America has moved from the age of the celebrity CEO to the age of the……. CEO. Chief executives are still in……, but their power is much more limited. The downsizing of the CEO has led, to a certain extent, to the supersizing of the……. That’s not necessarily a cure for everything that ails Corporate America. It is a clue that successful CEOs will have to be……. builders in the future. And it should be a warning to CEOs everywhere: The age of the absolute corporate monarch, such as AIG’s Greenberg, is over.

Source: Business Week (online), April 25, 2005 (excerpts)

Terms:

consensus, environment, micromanagement, liability, cooperation, treatment, turnaround, downsizing, exercised, helm, advisers, competitive, bankrupt, set, balance of power, mentality, performance, investigate, provided, regulators, fundamental, fees, stock options, independent, corporate governance, accounting scandal, run, destroy, consolidate, appreciate, relations, shareholder value, risk-averse, expertise, motto, shareholders, attitude, failures, effectively, claims, outside, blame, transactions, stock prices, abuses, quality, issues, deals, boards, charge, shifted, lawyers, auditors

Exercise 5. Translate into English.

Атакующий класс

Напомним схему классического корпоративного шантажа (greenmail). Атакующая структура покупает на открытом рынке некрупный пакет акций преуспевающей корпорации, после чего новоиспеченные акционеры начинают публично критиковать менеджмент компании. Помимо критики звучат и угрозы – например, обещания консолидировать более крупные пакеты акций и сменить руководство или заблокировать стратегические шаги компании. Конечной целью шантажиста является либо получение отступных за отказ от претензий, либо продажа своего пакета акций по завышенной цене. Практика greenmail на развитых рынках не слишком распространена: во-первых, западное деловое сообщество выработало систему защиты от «стервятников»; во-вторых, компания-агрессор немедленно попадает в черный список структур, вести с которыми бизнес опасно.

В России в 2000 году произошло несколько скандалов, которые были, по сути, адаптированными к российским условиям вариантами greenmail.

Встречайте нового акционера!

Стандартная версия русского корпоративного шантажа выглядит так. Некая структура приобретает на рынке крупный пакет акций компании с раздробленным уставным капиталом. Обычно речь идет о 15—25% акций «мишени». Затем новый акционер объявляет себя стратегическим партнером компании, одновременно предпринимая недружественные действия в отношении его менеджмента – от ареста ценных бумаг других акционеров под любым предлогом до организации проверок компании со стороны властных структур. Объявленная захватчиком цель – проведение внеочередного (extraordinary) собрания акционеров, на котором оппоненты агрессора будут максимально ослаблены. Когда старые акционеры поймут, что собрание может принять нежелательные для них решения, с ними можно начинать торг. Новый акционер объявляет сумму, за которую предприятию гарантировано спокойствие. Механизм передачи денег – выкуп акций по цене, в десятки раз превышающей рыночную.