The status of directors as company insiders or outsiders is crucial to the choices they make regarding chief
executive officers (CEO’s). A board of directors dominated by company outsiders is more likely to force out the
company’s CEO when the company underperforms than is a board dominated by senior managers of the
company, because company underperformance jeopardizes outsider directors’ reputations as experts in
decision control. Insider directors, on the other hand, are disinclined to challenge a CEO because their careers
are tied to the CEO’s.
Differences in their perceived self-interests also help explain insiders’ and outsiders’ differences concerning the
choice of a new CEO. When the appointment of a particular CEO would significantly enhance their prestige,
outsider directors generally select the candidate, whether or not the candidate is an outsider. However, since
directors represent the interests of shareholders, who tend to view the appointment of an outsider CEO more
favorably than that of an insider, especially when an incumbent CEO is forced to resign, a board dominated by
outsider directors ordinarily appoints an outsider CEO. In contrast, a board with a large proportion of insider
directors usually prefers an insider CEO both because policies developed and implemented by the directors are
less likely to be altered substantially and because there is usually less turnover of senior managers after the
new CEO is appointed.
The information in the passage suggests that the decisions made by boards of directors regarding CEO’s are
A Cuban cigar would cost 1 dollar less than 1.5 times a French cigar, had the French cigar cost 0.7 dollar less
than it does now. An Arabian cigar costs 50 cents more than 1.5 times the Cuban cigar. The three cigars
together cost 74.7 dollars. What is the price of the French cigar?
Don’t be surprised if we have an unusually cold winter this year. The last time we had a very cold winter was 12
years ago, and the last time before that was 12 years earlier, and the time before that was also 12 years earlier.
Brace yourself for another cold one.
Which of the following would most strengthen this argument?