Friday, December 19, 2008

electronic solutions for corporate governance

A recent news in India where a leading IT company announced its plans of acquiring a money-losing real estate company owned by the promoter's family created waves of questions about corporate governance in India.

It is known that promoters/managers have been taking the rest of the shareholders for a ride during board decisions, most of the times by using the 'independent' board members.

Numerous times, the managers have been either not disclosing the full agenda before the board meeting, or manipulating the minutes of the board meeting as per their own requirements.

An electronic solution where all shareholders can access and vote for a board agenda before the board meeting in a secure way could be helpful to organizations.

A weighted average of shareholders' opinion once accessible to the board would put an onus on the board members to take more responsible decisions.