Information technology and the board of directors

Ever since the Y2K scare, boards have grown increasingly nervous about corporate dependence on information technology. Since then, computer crashes, denial of service attacks, competitive pressures, and the need to automate compliance with government regulations have heightened board sensitivity to IT risk. Unfortunately, most boards remain largely in the dark when it comes to IT spending and strategy, despite the fact that corporate information assets can account for more than 50% of capital spending. A lack of board oversight for IT activities is dangerous, the authors say. It puts firms at risk in the same way that failing to audit their books would. Companies that have established board-level IT governance committees are better able to control IT project costs and carve out competitive advantage. But there is no one-size-fits-all model for board supervision of a company's IT operations. The correct approach depends on what strategic "mode" a company is in whether its operations are extremely dependent on IT or not, and whether or not it relies heavily on keeping up with the latest technologies. This article spells out the conditions under which boards need to change their level of involvement in IT decisions, explaining how members can recognize their firms' IT risks and decide whether they should pursue more aggressive IT governance. The authors delineate what an IT governance committee should look like in terms of charter, membership, duties, and overall agenda. They also offer recommendations for developing IT policies that take into account an organization's operational and strategic needs and suggest what to do when those needs change. Given the dizzying pace of change in the world of IT, boards can't afford to ignore the state of their IT systems and capabilities. Appropriate board governance can go a long way toward helping a company avoid unnecessary risk and improve its competitive position.     

在东欧国家进行矿业投资的机遇与可能

格雷希特(Gehalt F. Gerecht)博士是德国的一位采矿经济学家,1932年生于卡塞尔。曾在克劳斯塔尔和柏林学习采矿学,在慕尼黑学习法学,1957年通过学位考试,之后在慕尼黑巴伐利亚高等矿业局接受项目负责人培训。1960年通过第二次国家考试,获北非马格雷布地区矿业法博士学位。1961—1967年间,在汉诺威的Preussag公司工作,先任理事会助理,继任非铁金属部部长,后任Grund金属矿采矿经理,直至1979年。自1980年起受聘于欧洲投资银行(总部在卢森堡),在该行工程师参谋部负责矿产开发项目的评价监督。 本文是格雷希特博士在德国采矿与冶金工作者协会矿产经济专业委员会1992年10月21日汉诺威会议上的报告,后被《金属矿》杂志采用,发表在该刊1993年第2期上。在这篇文章里,作者首先介绍了国际上对开发项目提供投资的一般情况,拨款合同的基础和项目审查等内容。然后对苏联解体后,在原苏联与东欧地区进行矿产开发投资的形势和问题,作了深入的分析,提出了一些颇具影响的看法和意见。     

民主德国地质工作管理体制改革评述

(一) 民主德国的国土面积为10.8万平方公里,人口约1670万,建国35年来,已经发展成为一个比较先进的社会主义工业国。特别是近年来,在东欧国家经济状况普遍恶化的情况下,民主德国的经济仍有一定的增长,因而引起了世界经济学家的注意。苏联报刊肯定了     

乡镇企业股份制改革的实践与探索

自改革开放以来,企业股份制象其它改革新生事物一样,如火如荼,蓬勃发展,犹如春天的花朵,在祖国的经济园地里绚丽开放,光彩夺目.乡镇企业股份制改革是一朵美丽的奇葩,为经济百花园增辉添色.     

Working on nonprofit boards. Don't assume the shoe fits

Contrary to popular perception, businesspeople can be benevolent. For instance, one recent study notes that four-fifths of all Harvard Business School graduates are involved with nonprofits, with more than half of those serving on boards. Most business professionals will spend some time on a nonprofit board. That's the good news, the author says. The bad news is that the involvement of businesspeople can easily backfire. That's because they often try to take what they have learned from business school and the corporate world and apply it to their duties in the nonprofit sector. On the surface, there are similarities between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Both have boards of directors, trustees and chairpeople, regular meetings, and so forth. But the governance of nonprofit organizations is very different from the governance of for-profit businesses in several critical areas, including missions, measurements, and board composition. For instance, the CEO in the nonprofit world must manage a relationship with a nonexecutive board chair. In the for-profit world, the CEO is the chair. Such significant differences make it difficult to transfer ideas and practices between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. In this article, F. Warren McFarlan describes the main differences between serving on a for-profit board and serving on a nonprofit board. As he points out, understanding the differences will make it easier for businesspeople to move smoothly from one environment to the other and will therefore make their commitments more effective. Nonprofits need businesspeople, but only on the right terms.