Governance And Stakeholders At National Grid
January 23, 2009
There is a continuing debate about the US model of Corporate Governance versus the one in the UK. Some think that the US model is more strict … well, don’t tell that to UK based National Grid. Their comprehensive treatment of Governance and stakeholders could just be the envy of firms across the pond.
In the About Us there is navigation to Corporate Governance and lots more. For example, there are links to strategy, brand, board and stakeholders. All contain useful information, but I find the stakeholders section particularly interesting. This section expands to –
- Our Employees
- Our Investors
- Our Customers
- Our Suppliers
- Government and Regulators
- Local Communities and wider society
I’ve seen many Corporate Governance sites, but none with such a comprehensive treatment of stakeholders.
When you go to Our Investors you find an innovative communications item:
Shareholder networking
National Grid operates a Shareholder Networking programme, the aim of which is to allow shareholders to gain a better understanding of the Company. The programme, which is normally run twice a year in June and during early December over two days, includes visits to operational sites and presentations by senior managers and employees. Participants also have the opportunity to meet and question Directors.
Well done. Now back to the About Us page for another good feature — benchmarking.
Benchmarking our Performance
We participate in a number of public benchmarks, ratings and other comparisons of company performance provided by independent agencies that look at our economic, environmental and social performance. We believe benchmarking our performance is an important part of understanding the impact we have on society and identifying improvements we can make in the future.
How’s that for showing your Social Responsibility?
Seems that National Grid goes well beyond the USA Corporate Governance model.
E.ON: Communication and Corporate Governance
December 3, 2008
I was reading Forbes Magazine’s list of the 2000 Largest Public Companies and came upon a company I hadn’t heard about — E.ON: high up on the list with $94 Billion (USD) in sales. I knew that Corporate Governance is more stringent in Germany, so I decided to take a closer look.
First, E.ON has a clear visual describing their Corporate Governance System – simple but unique, and remarkably helpful in explaining the governance structure.
And note the “servicebox” that offers visitors a variety of features.
Noteworthy, too, is how E.ON displays their Corporate Governance Report –
This is a very comprehensive document that has a useful navigation scheme on the left. Each section is in HTML, not PDFs, and allows quick review of each section.
Also note the the stock price and the services box appear on each page: nice touch.
Other site features include –
- The Compensation Report is a model of thoroughness
- Declaration of Compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code, is available back to 2002
- Public Dialog with shareholders and investors is laudable since it provides a variety of communication channels with share-owners.
For Corporate Governance watchers, this is a must visit site.
Sustainable Energy Websites : Flash Games Lead The Way
October 31, 2008
A review of the FTSE100 Energy Sector demonstrating the importance of interactive content in helping consumers understand the sustainability challenges facing every industry.
The vast majority of our power comes from huge, centralised plants which consume natural resources in order to produce electricity (and carbon emissions!).
As a consequence, the energy sector is permanently under the sustainability microscope. There are renewable energy options but they’re not going to be built overnight.
In the meantime, many companies hesitate about what to invest in which technologies; near future technologies appear to promise ever more efficient alternatives and many believe that he who waits will win.
There are three energy sector companies in the FTSE100: International Power, British Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy. It would be churlish to leave one out on a whim, so all three are part of this FTSE 100 Website Review.
7 steps to yes: is it me you’re looking for?
February 13, 2008
How can you welcome the right person, while also politely explaining to others that perhaps this isn’t the right career for them?
5 stages of development of corporate RSS Feeds
November 30, 2007
Not all companies have yet ‘got’ the value in providing RSS feeds, and don’t provide any at all; at the other extreme, some companies provide multiple RSS feeds, including feeds of podcasts, speeches and other tailored streams of information.
There is definitely a trend towards providing more RSS feeds, and providing feeds tailored to a particular audience.
people delete feeds that aren’t tailored to their needs
I’ve noticed that major companies tend to fall into one of five different groups, depending on where they are on the RSS curve:
Read more
Get our updates
 |