[SPN-Discussion] Panel Discussion 1/9: The Quarterly Earnings Treadmill: Barrier to Sustainability or Keeping it Real?

[Events]

The Quarterly Earnings Treadmill: Barrier to Sustainability or Keeping it Real?

Date & Time: Tuesday, January 9, 6-9pm
Venue: Executive Conference Room, Citigroup Smith Barney, 345 Park 
Ave. (between 51st and 52nd Streets), 21st Floor, New York, NY 10154
Panelists: Jeffrey MacDonagh, Domini Social Investments, Marc 
Brammer, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Citigroup Investment 
Research Analyst
(TBD)
Moderator: Bruce M. Kahn, Smith Barney, Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
RSVP: events at sustainabilitypractice.net

The Quarterly Earnings Treadmill: Barrier to Sustainability or Keeping it Real?

America has long been criticized as a country in need of instant 
gratification; the same could be said for many of its shareholders. 
CEOs are increasingly beholden to Wall Street and analysts' 
expectations regarding the "magical" quarterly earnings results 
("Real men make their numbers"). But building sustainable value 
doesn't happen over night, so how can the game be changed so that 
management can make long-term plays and still deliver meaningful 
quarterly returns in a market dominated by hedge funds and day 
traders?  Betsy Morris of Fortune magazine has attempted to answer 
this question by challenging the short-termism embodied in Jack 
Welch's old rules of management with a new corporate play book:

         Old Rules                               New Rules
1.      Big dogs own the street                 Agile is best, being 
big can bite you
2.      Be No. 1 or No. 2 in your market                Find a niche, 
create something new
3.      Shareholders rule                       The customer is king
4.      Be lean and mean                        Look out, not in
5.      Rank your players, go with the A's      Hire passionate people
6.      Admire my might                 Admire my soul

What has pushed management to re-examine Welch's rules -- rules that 
had, at least in the quarterly earnings respect, been 
successful?  And when playing by the new rules, must corporations 
sacrifice some immediate benefits to build long-term value? What can 
be learned from companies like Coca-Cola, Motorola and Intel that 
have thrown off the quarterly earnings straight jacket and stopped 
providing guidance on earnings?

Speaker Bios:

Jeffrey T. S. MacDonagh, SRI Portfolio Manager

Jeff MacDonagh, CFA, is SRI Portfolio Manager of Domini Social 
Investments. Prior to joining Domini, Mr. MacDonagh was an assistant 
portfolio manager at Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors 
from 2003 to 2005. His responsibilities included portfolio 
management, screening for social investments, proxy voting, and 
community development investing. From 2000 to 2003, he was a social 
investment researcher at KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.   Mr. 
MacDonagh holds a B.S. in mathematics, physics, and philosophy from 
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.S. in technology policy 
and an M.S. in environmental planning from the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Marc Brammer, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors

Mr. Brammer, a Director of Research with Innovest, has been with the 
company since 1997. His main responsibilities have included analyzing 
many industry categories such as global auto and industrial 
manufacturing, chemicals, agriculture & food products, in addition to 
project development, training, and data management. Other work 
includes authoring a number of reports on corporate accountability 
and environmental policy, including "Monsanto and Genetic 
Engineering: Risks for Investors", "The Stuart Oil Shale Project: 
Implications of Carbon Emissions Constraints for Suncor 
Shareholders", and "Dow Chemical: Risks
for Investors "Mr. Brammer holds a Masters degree in Political 
Science from the Graduate Faculty of the New School University in New 
York, with a focus in Comparative Politics and Political Theory. 
Prior to joining Innovest, he worked with the Maryland International 
Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Maryland on a 
U.S. Geological Survey study of environmental conditions of the Upper 
Mississippi River Basin, in addition to thesis work on sustainable 
development economic theory. Mr. Brammer has spoken widely on 
corporate sustainability issues and analysis at numerous conferences, 
and has been a guest lecturer at
NYU, Columbia University and Pratt Institute.

Citigroup Investment Research Analyst
TBD 
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