Instead of literal profits,
CEOs now must generate "value" in the form of favorable perceptions on
Wall
Street.
The dissociative tendencies of all large organizations tend to be compounded today by the more urgent needs of contemporary corporations to cater to perceptions on Wall Street.
Contemporary CEOs are paid not so much to generate measurable profits, as to "maximize shareholder value." The value is the price of the stock; maximizing it means making the price go up.
But how is this typically done?
(c) COPYRIGHT 1998 ROBERT
WINTER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.