Company Share Options

Company share options schemes have been the source of much debateover recent years. Critics have seen them as a significantcomponent of the excessive compensation, and the "fat cat" rewards,received by senior executives. They further link this to thewidening gap between the compensation awarded to senior executivesand that received by other employees. Advocates of the use ofexecutive and employee share options point out that they:
* Help to align the interests of executives and employees withthose of shareholders?
* Increase productivity
* Encourage entrepreneurship
* Provide a means of attracting key staff
* Conserve the scarce cash resources of growth businesses
Increasingly, company share option schemes are becoming anindispensable feature of the compensation of both executives andemployees, particularly in high technology growth businesses. Theiruse is promoted by governments, who view them as encouragingentrepreneurship, facilitating employee share ownership, andassisting in the creation of a stakeholder economy. This bookexamines all aspects of the use of company share options andprovides an essential grounding in this vital topic.