The quality of papers in the shared governance literature was mid-grade.
Her group gives Oracle a grade of "D" for governance.
Companies with poor grades on accounting and corporate governance, as measured by researchers at Audit Integrity, get tossed.
There are dual-class share structures with unequal voting rights giving them control; unspecified succession plans; children on the boards who've squabbled with Dad; and an F grade from the Corporate Library, a governance watchdog.
"Executives owning this much stock puts too much power in one set of hands," says Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at the Corporate Library, which gives Amkor a grade of D for corporate governance.
"We've already been critical of Cheesecake's corporate governance and would consider lowering our Stewardship Grade from a 'D' to an 'F' should the company's audit committee determine that it did engage in backdating of options," Owens said.
But Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, which were recently given "F" grades by the Corporate Library for their governance, are on the list, courtesy of Thomas and Gray.
In the Catch-Up Index, which grades European countries according to economy, governance, democracy, and quality of life, Slovenia came in at the EU average and Bulgaria was near the bottom of the list, just below Romania.
Type in a ticker symbol at riskgrades.com and you'll soon see grades for a firm's market, credit, governance and accounting risk.
The board has historically been criticized for its governance: The Corporate Library gives Anheuser-Busch's board a grade of D, citing, among other things, conflicts on the board.
"We give Cablevision an F for corporate governance," Ms. Minow said, "and if there were a lower grade we'd give it to them.
