What are the functions of CEO?

Chief Executive Officer (CEO for short) is the most senior manager in an enterprise who is responsible for daily operation and management, and is also called CEO (the name of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia) or CEO (the name of Japan). In Hong Kong, the CEO of a large enterprise or group is also called "big class" verbally, which is a useful title, indicating that the company is at the helm.

Strictly speaking, CEO is an inappropriate title. It is a blunt translation of English CEO word for word, and CEO is the most appropriate translation for CEO. However, because the word "CEO" has been widely circulated in Chinese mainland, people have gradually become accustomed to this inappropriate title.

The basic duties of the CEO

Generally speaking, the CEO is responsible to the company's board of directors, and is often a member of the board. Have the ultimate power to implement management decisions within the company or organization. In a small-scale enterprise, the CEO may be the chairman and president at the same time, but in a large enterprise, these positions are often held by different people, so as to avoid one person playing too many roles and having too much power in the enterprise, and also to avoid the conflict of interests between the company itself and the owners (that is, shareholders).

The chief executive officer's main responsibilities are:

1. Decide on all major business activities of the company;

Second, implement the resolutions of the board of directors;

3. Preside over the daily business activities of the company;

4. Sign contracts or handle business with foreign countries;

5. To appoint or dismiss senior management personnel of the Company;

Intransitive verbs regularly report the operation to the board of directors and submit annual reports.

The emergence and history of CEO

CEO can be simply understood as the unity of two identities: enterprise leader and professional manager. In essence, the CEO system is to transfer part of the decision-making power of the board of directors to managers. CEO and corporate governance originated in America. In recent years, some enterprises in China have successively implemented the CEO system, and the first CEO appeared in the history of China. The emergence of CEO system is a new challenge to the traditional corporate governance structure. Fundamentally speaking, the separation of corporate ownership and management rights is the reason for the emergence of CEO.

The CEO often doesn't necessarily own any equity in the company, but he has great decision-making power and can make major decisions on the company's operation and management. In fact, many companies will give away stocks or warrants as part of the CEO's salary. Therefore, although the CEO may not own shares at first, many CEOs will own shares in the company after working for a period of time, or he/she will voluntarily buy shares in the company with his/her salary and bonus (bonus).

The establishment of CEO has become a common corporate governance method in all countries of the world. In the world's top 500 enterprises, the vast majority of enterprises have this position. The CEO first appeared in some Internet companies in China in the late 1990s. The CEO was often self-appointed, which did not attract people's attention at that time, and few people studied what this title meant to China enterprises. Later, the position of CEO appeared in many domestic companies, especially traditional big companies. For example, Zhang Ruimin of Haier, Tao Jianxing of Chunlan, Konka and Ni of Changhong have all changed their names to CEO. According to incomplete statistics, by 2002, there were 65,438+2,000 self-proclaimed CEOs in China companies.

The CEO system of an enterprise is compatible with the modern enterprise system. Under the modern market economy system, enterprises give the decision-making power of enterprise management to those who are most capable of managing the company. This person is the CEO, that is, the CEO. Sometimes, the CEO of an enterprise can be the chairman or vice chairman or the general manager.

The executive team under the leadership of CEO includes: general manager, deputy general manager CFO, chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer in charge of personnel department, chief operating officer (COO), department manager, chief accountant and chief engineer.

In foreign countries, CEO appeared on the basis of the establishment and maturity of corporate governance structure. Since1980s, with the expansion of global business of multinational corporations, information exchange within enterprises has become increasingly frequent. Due to the information transmission block and communication barrier between decision-making layer and executive layer, managers' quick response and execution ability to major decisions of enterprises are affected, and some enterprises begin to reform the traditional corporate governance structure of board of directors-chairman-general manager. CEO is one of the products of this change.

The real significance of CEO system

In some large or giant foreign enterprises, the constraint on CEO is not mainly the board of directors, but an institution called the strategic decision-making Committee. This strategic decision-making Committee is the main authority to support or deny the CEO's business decision. In some enterprises, most of the people who make up the strategic decision-making committee are not people in the enterprise, let alone investors in the enterprise, but well-known people in the fields of enterprise management, economy and law. Therefore, it is human capital that controls the enterprise, not the investor, whose interests are only reflected in the return of property rights.

The establishment of CEO embodies the concept of "ability-oriented, people-oriented and reasonable pricing of human capital"

Problems faced by CEO system in China

Faced with economic globalization and China's entry into WTO, many enterprises are busy planning and adjusting with a strong sense of crisis to meet the challenges of the world market. It is against this background that CEO appeared in China. However, the CEO of some enterprises in China just changed his name, which is actually the general manager's daily responsibility system under the decision of the board of directors, rather than the real CEO. It should be said that human capital, as capital, is one of the most important forms of expression in the era of knowledge economy. If the title of general manager of an enterprise is changed to CEO, it should not only be in line with international practices, but more importantly, the enterprise should be in line with international practices in many aspects such as property rights system, governance structure and corporate culture.

In fact, in China, many CEOs don't really have the real decision-making power. Sometimes it is not easy to see who is the real CEO of China Company, or who is the chairman and general manager.

Some research points out that in China: (1) If the chairman is also the general manager, this person is the CEO. This situation is similar to that of the chairman and CEO of the United States, and the chairman and general manager of listed companies in China account for 20.9%. The decision-making power and execution power of such companies are highly integrated. (2) If the chairman is not the general manager and does not work in the company every day, the general manager can also be regarded as the CEO. This situation is similar to the separation of chairman and CEO in the United States. The decision-making power and execution power of such companies are relatively separated, which is the case for 34.3% listed companies in China. (3) Between the above two, the chairman is not the general manager but works in the company every day. In this case, both the chairman and the general manager have the functions of CEO, which is similar to the double CEO phenomenon that often occurs during the running-in period after the merger of two foreign companies. As for the actual operation, who has more power, the chairman or the general manager, depends on the actual situation. Generally speaking, the chairman may be stronger and the general manager is weaker, which is the case in 44.8% listed companies in China.