Here are some thoughts from an article I read which relate to your desire to have a select group of shareholders meet with NOT management. Can’t find the article but if I can I will post it, as I thought it was quite insightful.
In a perfect world we would be allowed to go into a company, review files, ask pertinent questions, see past minutes, or get truthful answers to questions. This however is not a perfect world. This would allow any Tom, Dick or Harry with 100.00 and a computer to access information from the company, and this is generally not in the company’s best interests. (I am not just talking about Noront here) If only we could have complete transparency between management and shareholders, it would be a great boost for investor confidence.
As shareholders we are the owners of the companies we chose to invest in. As we cannot run the company ourselves we have voted in/hired the BoD and managers. This BoD and managers are there to run the company for the benefit of us the Owner/shareholder. Unfortunately because we are not present, Managers tend to see the company as theirs. Anyone who has been in Business has probably witnessed this mentality. Managers think they can make any decision they wish, dam the shareholder. This could be characterized as a “God Complex”. This would explain the share options and hefty compensations packages allotted to managers of big and small corporations. These multimillion dollar packagers are more and more unrelated to proven performance and as such are not in the best interests of shareholders. As the managers think they own the company, they act in their own best interests which translates to lining their pockets with cash at shareholder expense.
Now if the managers actually believe that they own the company, (and most act like they believe this), it follows that this would have a tremendous impact on shareholder relations and sharing of information. In this frame of mind, Managers will not disclose much of anything to the shareholder. Shareholders are perceived as annoying and irritable and a nuisance. Management’s mentality is if you don’t like it, sell your shares and invest elsewhere. Management will divulge minimal information and only what they are forced to share as a result of regulatory obligations. Until this mindset is replaced by one where the shareholders are seen as company owners, it is unlikely that it would make much difference whether we as shareholders elected a delegation to ask questions, we would be stonewalled or given minimal information as always.
I believe the only way to change this scenario is to reassert shareholder rights as the owner of the company. This may have the impact alerting Managers and BoD members that they work for us and therefore should act in our best interests. If this occurs maybe, just maybe, we may get to the point where information will be more forthcoming to the shareholders of public companies. With the communication revolution, (Computers) maybe more investors will take a more active role in their investments, stop giving their money to institutions (crooks) and take back what is rightfully theirs, the company they have invested in. We are starting to have a more active voice as was witnessed by the recent Noront proxy vote. The tide of change is upon us and maybe, just maybe, management will start to realize that the shareholder is the ultimate company owner and start to act as such.
