US bailouts of companies during 2008-09

This post will only look at the direct costs related to the USD 606B bailout during 2008-09 financial crisis. So far 40% of this amount has been paid back. Propublica is tracking the repayment of the bailouts (here). Here is a summary of all the bailouts and how much has been repaid.

Restore the role of owners in the capitalist system

A quite interesting article about corporate governance in Sweden from Financial Times (here, probably behind pay wall). The article has this to say about the Anglo-Saxon model:

[T]he Anglo-American model where dispersed ownership among thousands of investors means shareholders usually have little power, with votes at annual meetings often resembling Soviet-era elections

Vietnam and Sweden

I recently visited Vietnam and growing up in Sweden I was aware that Sweden was very generous in economic help to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s. At least that is what I was proudly told by my school teachers. Investigating the question a bit further I found a long self-congratulatory report written by SIDA, the Swedish Government Foreign Aid Agency, which administers all foreign aid.

Social entrepreneurship is good for society

My blog is really about business strategy, but I have given my view on corporate social responsibility so I thought I should also balance the discussion by commenting on social entrepreneurship, which is something totally different.

Corporate social responsibility is bad for society

One of the most trendy topics in management research is corporate social responsibility. Trendy topics attract a lot of muddled thinking and muddled thinking can be dangerous. I think the focus on corporate social responsibility is outright bad.