Guiding the Future of India's Boards: Governing the Corporation

Guiding the Future of India's Boards: Governing the Corporation brings international perspectives and experiences related to corporate governance into the context of business in India. Wharton faculty members address this complex issue with lectures, small discussion groups, and case studies that highlight both troubled and successful boards around the world. The program curriculum has been designed and developed jointly by the Wharton School and Egon Zehnder International, in collaboration with members of the Indian business community. Eminent Indian executives will also share their insights on corporate governance.

Program sessions include:

• Fulfilling Ethical, Fiduciary, Legal, and Social Responsibility
• Driving Corporate Strategy and Key Decisions
• Growing the Business — Strategic Alliances, Mergers and Acquisitions
• Reviewing Board Performance
• Investor Capitalism
• Ensuring Vigilance — Lessons Learned from Recent History: Satyam, Worldcom, and Enron
• Succession Planning and Chief Executive Officer Selection

About Egon Zehnder

Egon Zehnder International is the largest privately held executive search firm in the world, with more than 385 consultants located in 63 wholly owned offices in 37 countries. The firm specializes in senior-level executive search, board consulting and director search, management appraisals, and talent management.

Egon Zehnder International has a dedicated practice specializing in board consulting. The group focuses its efforts on the highest level of an organization and works in a collaborative manner with the chairman of the board and its members. Typical activities include reviewing overall board performance or appraising individual board member contributions to recruiting directors whose independence, intellect, integrity, and courage will strengthen the board and create sustained competitive advantage.

Egon Zehnder International identifies those critical competencies required of the board as a whole, as well as its individual members, that will enable it to graduate from the traditional role of "oversight" to the more valuable role of "contribution." An effective board composed of the right people, focusing on the right issues, and working in an environment of dialogue, not monologue, is a high-value corporate asset. We aim to ensure that the board has a balanced perspective and that the collective wisdom of the directors is unleashed and utilized for the benefit of the company's shareholders.

Our approach to board consulting acknowledges the wave of change in corporate governance norms which has taken place around the world in recent years. While the plethora of new codes of behavior may have been justified by the poor or fraudulent actions of some, we argue that they are necessary but not sufficient. Only a group of diverse and outstanding individuals combining to form an exceptional team will achieve sustained effectiveness in the board room.

The program is designed for Indian corporate board members of SEBI-listed as well as private companies and entrepreneurial firms that should adopt global standards of corporate governance. In addition, senior executives likely to assume corporate board positions in the near future would benefit greatly from this program.

Designed to provide the critical knowledge board members need, from financial tools to the most sophisticated relationship building skills, this program will help you to:

• Understand the essential questions that board members should be asking regarding financial disclosure, succession planning, and compensation.
• Learn what audit committee members should know about revenue recognition, "off-balance sheet" financing, and accounting methods and disclosures.
• Understand and benchmark against best practices in corporate governance.
• Develop tested strategies for managing Chief Executive Officer succession.
• Evaluate the role of the board in strategy development, evaluation, and company evolution.
• Understand how to manage the independence often found at the committee level on today's boards, and explore how critical oversight occurs there.