ValueAligned Sears Holdings ($SHLD) launches effort to squeeze cash from vast real estate holdings
One of the most creative ways to increase the value of assets is to spend next to nothing and generate more sales. EVA goes up if margin is increased and/or if velocity goes up - sales/assets. Sears has a huge amount of underutlized real estate, whether the stores have been shuttered and waiting for new tenants and it has space in postive cash flow, but underutilized active Kmart or Sears stores. Now that the Feds'
BERK: ExxonMobil (XOM) has been criticized for its "lack" of investment spending even though it spent $26 billion on capital projects last year. (I know-$26 billion is nothing compared to the amounts governments can spend, but it's a bunch of money to the rest of us). XOM is a ValueAligned company, and consequently, it has a high hurdle rate and tough criteria for any spending that is expected to have future benefits. WIth that amount
Joel Stern, CEO of Stern Stewart & Co., suggests on its web site that the purpose of Stern Stewart and the EVA value based management system is "to make important ideas in financial policy and strategy workable for boards, senior management, and to promote the training and development of all employees so they can acquire an understanding of what it means to create shareholder value. Nothing is more important in any firm
ValueAligned Companies Go Green Without Altering Overarching Objective of Managing for Value
Best Buy: An Emerging Green Giant By Marc Gunther Published December 03, 2009 By now, everyone paying attention to the greening of corporate America knows about Walmart's sweeping sustainability programs. Big-box rival Best Buy has not been nearly as visible about its efforts to become more environmentally and socially responsible. But I recently visited Best Buy's headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, on assignment for FORTUNE, and came away impressed with what the $40-billion a year company
Focus On The Short-Term Hurts Companies – Bill George
One of the important qualities of ValueAligned companies is that its management team and its processes are organized around maximizing "economic value", called "intrinsic value" by Warren Buffett, not some vague notion of maximizing "shareholder value", which almost always degenerates into short-term management of accounting earnings, or "making" the number. The sad result of this is that public companies rarely overcome what the Aspen Institute calls "short-termism". The statement, “Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach
