Fogdog Essay Example

Fogdog Essay Example Fogdog Essay Fogdog Essay Donna De Verona represented women, but there Is no Information about her contribution to the company aside from her probable media connections. Id rather recommend inviting to the board more outside directors to make the decision-making process unbiased and transparent. The separation of the roles of the Chairman and CEO is one more condition that I would remain unchanged. The dominance of venture capitalist Investors has turned to be a complete failure for the company. As, on the one hand, they were passive and not willing to participate in strategic management. Investors dont take responsibility for the companys operations, they are merely participate in the profits. Venture capitalists were over-committed In terms of the number of board seats they held, which limited the amount of time they could spend with any one company [Case, p. 1 | On the other hand, when they faced the risk of losing capital and not reaching short-term profitability, they were not able to consider allowing the management team to proceed accomplishing their long-term plan, thus leading the company to the end of Its Independent existence. Its a Coos responsibility to nominate the board members, and shareholders have to appoint the nominees. So they equally can be blamed for the company not possessing the most effective board possible. : Moreover, Its a Tim Harrington fault n letting the board behave passively, as it was convenient for him to make strategic decisions practically alone. To draw the conclusion, to execute best practice board and composition It Is necessary to: Increase the number of outside directors (non-affiliated Leave the separation of Chairman and CEO; Reduce the number of PVC investors; Invite directors with extensive knowledge of product, of rapidly changing environment, with proved reputation and willingness to contribute to the long-term success of the company. . Two month before the crucial meeting it became clear for management team that there was not enough cash to achieve profitability: Fog needed an additional $15 million to $20 million. That was not possible due to the extremely tight financial environment for Internet companies at that time. [Case, p. 101 Tim Harrington and his team tried to work on the first option, determined by the board of directors, in order to save the company, wh ich included the amendment of Dustless model to conclave pronto TTY slung ten scans available. I nee consolable TN partnership with brick-and-mortar retailers as one of the ways out. One of the estates, I think, was the companys concentration on attracting capital. The CEO could have foreseen that challenging business climate would affect dramatically Fogs performance, and could put at least half of his forces to adopt to it. Besides this, as Ralph Sparks noticed, and I cant but agree with him, the operating expenses were too high, so that it was difficult for a company to show net income. Another mistake was in missing the opportunity to establish brick-and-mortar partnership, while the conditions were more favorable for Fog. Nevertheless, it can be said, hat Tim and his management team did a great work on revision of the Fogs business plan to amend it to reach profitability in the long run. Tim thought, that it was better to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission, because he didnt believe that anyone in the board besides him was able to make a substantive decision. He pretended to know the company and its needs best. He saw that the board lacks commitment and stimulus but, as a leader, made no attempt to correct the situation. As it was already mentioned, it seemed convenient to him to be responsible to make decision with no interference from the passive board. Thus if anything goes wrong he can ask for forgiveness, but he was self-confident and was sure that his direction is the right one. This overconfidence made harm to Fog, notwithstanding the fact, that Tim Harrington can be considered a respectable CEO. Moreover, the members didnt appreciate Times self-confidence in making decisions although his work was directed on a long-term success of a company. 3. As a venture capitalist Im interested to see the return of my investment. The long- term results about which CEO speaks every time are quite questionable and uncertain, as I see that the situation is getting worse every minute. And the evidence or it is the dramatically reduction of Fogs stock price from its $1 1 offering price per share in December, 1999, to less than $1 in the end of August. Concerning the financial environment affecting the Internet companies (and Fog is not the exception), it becomes too risky for a company to survive alone. I am quite anxious about shareholders interests, because as a board member, its my duty to make sure that nothing threatens their deserved benefit. It is too much obvious that it would be better to sell the company (and receive 0. 135 of a share of Global Sports common stock for each share [9]) rather that observe how it decays.