Fewer African-Americans are on boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies according to a new study that was commissioned by The Executive Leadership Council. The study finds that board seats held has declined since 2004.
In 2004, the percentage was 8.1%. in 2008, this study found that the number had dipped to 7.4%.
Dr. Ancella B. Livers, The Executive Leadership Council’s Institute for Leadership Development & Research’s executive director, believes that the current economic downturn should allow for companies to take another look at their board of directors.
Said Livers: “African Americans lost ground in the boardrooms of corporate America between 2004 and …read more

Yes, another Fortune 500 company has been bitten by the social media bug called Twitter. Although it’s starting to become a norm for big businesses to get involved in social media, it’s good to see how they approach social media.
It seems their philosophy is that they should connect with consumers via social media and communicate with them. I experience interaction with Ford when I wrote an article last year that included a link to Ford’s Facebook fan page. I accidently had a link to an old page and I was sent the correction for the right link within a couple …read more

NCR, which is best known for manufacturing ATM machines and other similar products, has decided to move its Dayton, Ohio headquarters to Georgia. This means that Ohio, which will lose its only Fortune 500 Company after the move, will also lose about 1,200 jobs in the transition.
Although NCR has been in the Ohio area for about 100 years, it plans to move to Georgia and open a manufacturing facility in the southern state. Ohio has already been struggling with an employment rate steadily increasing past the national average, and the collapse of the auto industry has not helped the state …read more

In both 2007 and 2008, Wal-Mart was on top of the Fortune 500, while Exxon Mobil finished in second place. For 2009, Exxon Mobil leapfrogged Wal-Mart and is now first while Wal-Mart finished in the second slot.
The Fortune 500 is released by Fortune magazine on a yearly basis and it lists the 500 richest corporations in the United States by using gross revenue as the measure. This year, Exxon Mobile topped the list with more than $440 billion in revenue. Wal-Mart was second with revenue of more than $405 billion.
Overall, the national economic woes was felt in the Fortune …read more

Arrow Electronics, a Fortune 500 company founded in 1935 in New York City, has started a plan that will cut employee’s pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. The plan will call for mandatory time-off in which employees will not be paid.
A company that deals in computer and electronic products, Arrow Electronics is yet another company adversely affected by the global financial downturn. It earlier unveiled a report that showed that the company’s net income fell more than 30% in the final quarter of 2008.
Paul Reilly, the CFO of Arrow Electronics, said that the company’s plan of mandatory time-off will …read more