Having had my nose firmly stuck in some knotty cases over the last few months the existence of Junior Apprentice had somehow passed me by. Having finally caught an episode I am sad to have missed the earlier ones.
All the great ingredients of the main series are there - the over-confidence / arrogance, the backstabbing and the spectacular failures - just in a younger package. Some business commentators have been very snooty about the educational pretensions of the show - but who cares! This is entertainment but at the same time it is a microcosm of what goes on and what goes wrong in teams and boardrooms around the country.
I shall not be missing any of the future episodes.
The UK cabinet is the most powerful boardroom in the UK. Like all boardrooms it can be be the venue for bitter infighting as the recent attempted coup by Messrs Hoon and Hewitt neatly illustrates.
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Mitchells & Butlers (”M&B”) owner of pub chain All Bar One has been airing its dirty linen in public. Rebel shareholders at the company have seen their representatives kicked off the board in what has all the hallmarks of a classic boardroom dispute.
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The position of “nominee” director is an interesting one. They are openly appointed to represent the interests of a third party (e.g. a shareholder or creditor or investor) whilst at the same time owing all the duties of an ordinary director.
The duties of a director are extensive and now codified (see article for details) and include as a key requirement the duty to promote the success of the company. To a lawyers eye, the position of nominee director is therefore fraught with potential conflict of interests and fertile ground for boardroom disputes. The recent case of Hawkes -v- Cuddy, re. Neath Rugby Limited provides some guidance for nominee directors.
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Boardroom disputes and shareholders disputes always have the potential to seriously damage the company in question. One particular problem, particularly in the current financial climate, is that banks may use a dispute as a reason to terminate or curtail a companies banking facilities. The problems can be even worse for listed companies.
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The merits of talking instead of fighting are very clear when it comes to boardroom disputes and shareholders disputes. Even a simple shareholder dispute can incur six figure legal costs on each side. A new mediation service has been launched which might help in this process.
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Another series of the Apprentice ends with two surprising results. First, Kate (”Miss Perfect”) fails to bag the job and second, Sir Alan is announced as Gordon Brown’s new “Enterprise Tsar”.
Starting with the Apprentice itself - this series did not disappoint with its boardroom disputes.
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Another classic boardroom brawl in the Apprentice with contrasting fortunes for Ben and Philip.
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As the latest series of The Apprentice gathers pace with an epic boardroom encounter involving Ben, Debra and the unfortunate Noorul, what does this series tell us about boardroom disputes.
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There have been a number of recent instances of shareholders venting their anger at general meetings and refusing to agree company accounts or the remuneration packages of directors. Whatever the cathartic value of such actions, in practice these protests have no more than symbolic value.
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Boardroom Disputes | Ed Weeks | 
June 3, 2010 6:37 pm | 
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