On July 15-16, 2020, the final third module of the Professional Development Program for the Members of the Boards of Directors “Corporate Director” was successfully held.

Twenty-seven participants were in the classroom, and 6 participants took part in the program on-line.

The module began with a discussion of the on competition issues and new challenges for the company with Igor Gut, co-founder of the Swedish-Ukrainian project DYB, system researcher of business and competition. Igor emphasized the peculiarities of quantitative and qualitative competition, technological separation, and corporate culture. Igor singled out the special role of the owner-founder of the company, whose inner world is necessarily reflected in the company, its structure, and methods of doing business.

“The advisory board’s role is a flexible tool for strengthening the company’s competitiveness; it is external expertise, a critical view; it is the support of the board of directors. This is the first step towards proper corporate governance in the company, “I. Gut said.

Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Management Board, in his speech focused on anti-corruption compliance issues, answering the question of why we are talking about anti-corruption compliance and why the Board should focus on it:

• Events of the last two years testify the attempt of the global reversal of Ukraine from east to west.
• Such a reversal can be successful only if a radical change in the general attitude to the factors that determine the success of business in the country.
• One such factor is the attitude to corruption.

At the end of the first day of the third module, Peter Zashev, Professor (Associate Professor) at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Director of Corporate Learning Programs at Hanken School of Economics and Member of the Board of Directors of Alu-Releco International (Finland), focused on the answers to the question why the board of directors must take into account the issue of corporate culture, and what is the practical significance of culture for the company’s business success.

“The values of any company are a fundamental element of its corporate culture. It is the values that largely determine the rules and norms of behavior, the principles of work, and interaction with colleagues and clients. Therefore, the effectiveness of the work of the whole team depends on the values, ” P. Zashev said.

Igor Gut started the last day of the program, which was entirely devoted to considering cases on decision-making by the Supervisory Board. His task before the Boards created from the program’s participants was as follows: how to scale the business in the conditions of fierce competition. The discussion was dynamic; a lot of questions were raised. This was especially so regarding the clarification of the details that precede the board’s decision-making.

The next case, which was submitted for consideration by the participants, was the resolution of the conflict with the trade union. Before the solution was before the supervisory board of a large enterprise, the problem was preparing for sale. The Board set a task for the management to reduce staff, resulting in a conflict with the union. How to be? What shall they do? What are the possible solutions to the problem? The participants of the program sought answers to all these questions. They made decisions with Oleksandr Onufrienko, a partner of the law firm Asters, who has significant and multifaceted experience in building corporate structures of various kinds, protecting them from unfriendly takeovers, and resolving corporate conflicts.

The company’s CEO’s selection and the appointment is a direct task of the company’s supervisory board. How to do it? What procedure? What are the requirements for candidates? Why is it not a fast, but usually a long process (at least 4-5 months)? Why not choose the principle of “lesser evil”?

The program participants sought answers to all these questions with Oleksiy Dolgikh, Managing Partner of the Ukrainian office of Boyden Global Executive Search Boyden Ukraine. Oleksiy shared insights, and life hacks from his experience of finding and selecting CEOs for leading Ukrainian and international companies.

Sources and models of business financing – how can or should the supervisory board act in the decision-making process? What questions and additional information may the supervisory board need before making the best decision? What figures of financial statements and financial forecasts should be taken into account in the first place, and how can they affect the final result?

Sergey Goncharevich, the managing partner of Capital Times, asked such questions to the program participants when considering the case of choosing the company’s financing.

The first experience of simulating the Supervisory Board meetings by the participants of the Corporate Director Program was successful. All participants took part in the discussions with pleasure and interest and sought answers to the questions asked.

The program ended with a question and answer session on the National Registry of Corporate Directors. Members of the Registry Board, Oleksandr Okuniev, and Olena Voloshyna, Head of IFC’s Operations in Ukraine, answered participants’ questions.