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Article: Critique of the GM board guidelines. (General Motors Corp.)
- Article from:
- Directors & Boards
- Article date:
- June 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Directors and Boards. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The board of one of America's most emblematic companies has given thoughtful consideration to what a board needs in order to be able to do its job.
Over its history, General Motors has tried out almost as many models of corporate governance as cars, and with the same variety of results. In the 1920s the CEO of General Motors was forced to resign by Pierre du Pont, representing the Du Pont company's 36% stake in GM. Du Pont himself became the CEO for two critical years, before turning the company over to Alfred Sloan -- perhaps the ultimate example of shareholder activism and board responsiveness.
But in the 1980s, General Motors was at the other end of the ...