Company share options schemes have been the source of much debate over recent years. Critics have seen them as a significant component of the excessive compensation, and the "fat cat" rewards, received by senior executives. They further link this to the widening gap between the compensation awarded to senior executives and that received by other employees. Advocates of the use of executive and employee share options point out that they:
Help to align the interests of executives and employees with those 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 an indispensable feature of the compensation of both executives and employees, particularly in high technology growth businesses. Their use is promoted by governments, who view them as encouraging entrepreneurship, facilitating employee share ownership, and assisting in the creation of a stakeholder economy. This book examines all aspects of the use of company share options and provides an essential grounding in this vital topic.