Monday, December 22, 2008

Management "plunder" on the Shareholders' behalf

"Paper entrepreneurialism is both cause and consequence of America's faltering economy. Paper profits are the only ones easily available to professional managers who sit atop organizations designed for a form of production that is no longer appropriate to America's place in the world economy. At the same time, the relentless drive for paper profits has diverted attention and resources away from the difficult job of transforming the productive base. It has retarded the transition that must occur, and has made change more difficult in the future. Paper entrepreneurialism thus has a self-perpetuating quality that, if left unchecked, will drive the nation to further decline."

-- Robert B. Reich, "The next American frontier," Atlantic, March 1983, pp. 43-57.

It's been 25 years! Haven't we learned anything.

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