谁该为麦当劳的萎靡现状负责？公司董事会难辞其咎

麦当劳在名单上指出，除汤普森外，该公司13位董事中有12名独立董事。不过，除了同为董事会成员，这些成员之间还存在一些有意思的关联。

- 绝大多数麦当劳董事的办公地点都在芝加哥以外（这样的地理分布对一家真正的全球化企业来说并不是非常多元化）。

- 名单显示，由麦当劳董事恩里克•埃尔南德斯担任CEO的安保公司Inter-Con Security Systems在2013年为麦当劳的家庭办公室园区提供了安保系统。麦当劳为此支付了130万美元（不到后者收入的1%）。

- 2002-2009年，耐克公司（Nike）高层珍妮•杰克逊和埃尔南德斯都在零售企业诺德斯特龙（Nordstrom）担任董事。2006年，埃尔南德斯成为诺德斯特龙非执行董事长。两人均于1999年进入麦当劳董事会。

- 尽管担任了麦当劳董事，但罗杰•斯通和麦肯纳都曾经营公司作为麦当劳的供应商。

- 麦当劳CEO唐•汤普森曾于2007-2013年在电力公司Exelon担任董事，当时和他一起在Exelon担任董事的还有麦当劳董事、投资公司Ariel Investments首席执行官约翰•罗杰斯。罗杰斯2000年进入Exelon董事会，一直任职至今。Exelon的资料显示，麦当劳是该公司客户，2013年向其支付1400万美元。

- 麦肯纳是风险管理及再保险公司怡安（Aon）资格最老的董事，任职时间超过40年，于2012年退出董事会。麦当劳董事罗杰斯1993年进入怡安董事会，也在2012年卸任。罗杰斯从2003年开始担任麦当劳董事。

- 麦当劳董事、税务及商业咨询公司True Partners Consulting首席执行官凯瑞•麦克米伦是芝加哥艺术学院（School of the Art Institute of Chicago）监事会主席。另一名麦当劳董事沃尔特•马瑟则是该学院院长。

- 2011年，麦当劳董事理查德•伦尼进入私募公司Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe担任经营合伙人，目前为高级顾问。今年9月份，另一位麦当劳董事罗伯特•埃克特也成为该公司经营合伙人。两人从2005年起开始在麦当劳董事会共事。

公司治理专家内尔•米诺指出，以前芝加哥的“熟人董事会”就比其他城市多，她相信现在很可能依然如此。米诺说：“麦当劳董事会的情况应该出现在1990年前后，而不是2014年。大多数公司董事会已经认识到，非常清楚地向股东表明自身的独立性有多么重要，而麦当劳好像还没有意识到这一点。”

特拉华大学的埃尔森认为，董事们在公司以外的关系越密切，就越让人担心。这些关系有可能把别的因素带进董事会，而这样的因素或许会让董事们难以保持客观。他还说：“只要存在任职时间特别长以及董事之间关系密切的情况，董事会的效用就可能成问题。”（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审稿： Vera Han

In its proxy, the company notes that 12 of 13 of its directors are independent—Thompson being the exception. But there are a couple of interesting connections between the company’s directors that go beyond the McDonald’s boardroom:

–The vast majority of McDonald’s board members are based out of Chicago. (That’s not very geographically diverse for a truly global company.)

–According to the proxy, in 2013 Inter-Con Security Systems, whose CEO is McDonald’s director Enrique Hernandez, provided physical security systems for the company’s home office campus. McDonald’s payments to Inter-Con totaled $1.3 million (less than 1% of Inter-Con’s revenue).

–Jeanne Jackson, a Nike executive, overlapped on the Nordstrom board with Hernandez from 2002-2009. Hernandez became Nordstrom’s non-executive chairman in 2006. They have overlapped on the McDonald’s board together since 1999.

–Directors Roger Stone and McKenna at one time both ran companies that were suppliers to McDonald’s, even as they sat on McDonald’s board of directors.

–McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson was a director of the utility company Exelon from 2007 to 2013, overlapping with McDonald’s director and Ariel Investments CEO John Rogers. Rogers is a current Exelon director who joined the board in 2000. Exelon’s proxy notes that McDonald’s is a customer, paying Exelon $14 million in 2013.

–McKenna served as Aon’s longest-tenured director, stepping down in 2012 after more than 40 years. McDonald’s director Rogers joined the Aon board in 1993, serving also until 2012. Rogers has been on the McDonald’s board since 2003.

–McDonald’s director Cary McMillan, CEO of True Partners Consulting, is chairman of the Board of Governors for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Fellow McDonald’s director Walter Massey is president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

–Director Richard Lenny joined private equity firm Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe as an operating partner in 2011 and is now a senior advisor. This September his fellow McDonald’s board member Robert Eckert became an operating partner. They’ve overlapped on the McDonald’s board since 2005.

Corporate governance expert Nell Minow notes that Chicago has historically had more inbred boards than other cities, and she believes that may very well still be the case. “What you see at McDonald’s is what we expect from boards circa 1990, not circa 2014,” she says. “It’s like McDonald’s hasn’t gotten the message that most boards have about how important it is that you demonstrate a very clear picture of independence to the shareholder community.”

Elson of the University of Delaware says that the closer directors get outside of the board room, the more concerning it is. These relationships have the potential to introduce elements into the mix that might make it hard to be objective. He adds, “Any time you see significant length of tenure and interrelationships between directors, it raises questions of effectiveness.”