Re: OWNERSHIP: JBM or VBM?

["Norman G. Kurland" <thirdway@cesj.org>]

In his posting of June 28th, Ryan -- Social Credit's presumably self-appointed "poison pill" -- has accused me of "theft" with regard to EEI's (our professional consulting firm) use of the term "Value-Based Management."  This malicious and libelous statement is one of many Ryan has aimed at those he disagrees with, including Michael Greaney, Dan Parker, Mark Reiners, Rodney Shakespeare.  A libel starts with a false statement published to damage the reputation and integrity of another.  Ryan statement that I "appropriated (i.e., stole)" this term is false and libelous.  I take that kind of abuse seriously and will prove by the chronology below that Ryan deserves to be held accountable for this libel.

This term "Value-Based Management" was marketed by EEI to describe a moral approach to corporate governance consistent with the core values and code of ethics of the Center for Economic and Social Justice, EEI's all-volunteer sister non-profit organization formed in 1984.  EEI, incorporated in 1982, first used the term in business in its consulting business on December 21, 1990, used it frequently thereafter in published articles and lectures, and applied to the U.S. Trademark Office to register the term on November 18, 1993.  It was not until seven years later (November 18, 2000) have we found any evidence that the term was used as a strategy for those speculating in marketable securities, a use completely at odds with the ownership philosophy advocated by CESJ and EEI.  And it was not until after August 2002 that we learned of this alternate use of the term for which EEI and later CESJ had registered with the U.S. Trademark Office.  Rather than challenge the alternative use of the term for "value investing", we decided to abandon our claim to the term.  On May 13, 2003 CESJ registered "Justice-Based Management" as an even more appropriate term to describe the services being marketed by EEI and any other consultants qualified by an independent JBM certification board.  In other words, if the VBM term was appropriated, it was appropriated from us, not by us. 

To summarize, Ryan has libeled me.  Such serious and respectable advocates of social credit as Wally Klink and Vic Bridger and the social credit movement itself are damaged by allowing Ryan to become their attack dog.  He is their problem and they will suffer from his poisonous personality.  I would be embarrassed to have someone behaving as unprofessionally and unscholarly as Ryan representing Kelso's philosophy and binary economics.  And John Logue and Dan Bell should be ashamed to allow the COG ownership discussion group to be hijacked by the likes of Ryan.

I have a suggestion.  Ryan and all others who want to join him should set up a Social Credit discussion group on COG's system, allow those interested in ownership-oriented economics  to establish a "Binary Economics" discussion group, and, after removing the libelous postings by Ryan, block any further postings on the ownership discussion group, which has been operated from the beginning without any rules of civilized discussion.

Norm Kurland

CHRONOLOGY OF
VALUE-BASED MANAGEMENT
AND JUSTICE-BASED MANAGEMENT
SERVICE MARKS
(June 29, 2005)

April 7, 1984: The core values of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (drafted by Norman Kurland, Fr. William Ferree, and other members of the founding group) are accepted by consensus at the first consecutive monthly meeting of CESJ, held at American University. Serving as "the basis of CESJ's existence," these written statements (which are read in a participatory manner at the beginning of each monthly meeting) remind participants about the moral values upon which CESJ was formed as an institution.  They also guide CESJ members engaging in acts of economic and social justice in how we should try to interact with others.

May 22, 1985: CESJ files its Articles of Incorporation with the Recorder of Deeds, District of Columbia, incorporating CESJ's core values within Section 3 ("Purposes").

June 2, 1987:  CESJ members Norman Kurland and Dawn Brohawn, in their professional capacity as members of Equity Expansion International, Inc. (an ESOP investment banking and expanded capital ownership consulting team incorporated in 1982 in the District of Columbia), begin a series of meetings with Allied Plywood Corporation (a 100% employee-owned company that became a client of Norman Kurland from 1977) to help them develop their ownership culture.  Borrowing upon CESJ's own organizational development model (and using the CESJ core values and code of ethics as an example), the ownership culture process begins with a written articulation of the company's own core values and code of ethics.

June 9, 1987: The first draft of the Allied Plywood Core Values ("What Allied Plywood Means to Me - Our Core Values") is written.

July 11, 1989: A memo sent by EEI to the CEO of Allied Plywood outlines the ongoing participatory process for developing the statements of core values and code of ethics of the company. The process begins with the CEO and goes through several iterations throughout all levels of the company. It is explained by EEI in a series of meetings with top and middle management and rank-and-file workers, that these "shared values" will provide a moral compass for all members of the corporation to help them refine their corporate management, governance and pay and reward systems. The core values will also serve as a foundation for an ownership culture that will link ethical values to market-determined economic values.

December 21, 1990: Through one of EEI's ESOP clients (Conservit, Inc. of Hagerstown, MD) five members of the EEI team meet with nine members of Human Equations, Inc. (a management consulting group based in Baltimore, Maryland) to explore possible areas of collaboration.  EEI's Dawn Brohawn makes a presentation on "Value-Based Management."  Her 12/21/90 presentation outline distributed at the meeting describes Value-Based Management as a "management system based on (1) the ethical principle that every person affected by the company is important; (2) providing maximum value to the customer (V=Q/P); and (3) receiving value back as an owner--rewards based on the value added by one's performance and contribution."

January 28, 1991:  Dawn Brohawn (Director of Communications, Equity Expansion International) submits to Conservit, Inc. the "Report on the Human Equations Profit Recovery Management/Supervisory Skills Session with Conservit, Inc. Supervisors, January 17, 1991."  In the report evaluating the Human Equations system, she employs "Value-Based Management" as a "Framework of Analysis."

February 4, 1991: Equity Expansion International publishes an article, "Value-Based Management: A Framework for Analysis and Action," to describe the philosophy underlying its VBM services.

April 25, 1991: Norman Kurland gives a lecture at the Johns Hopkins University Graduate School of Business on "Global Management: A Paradigm for Our Future." The publicity flyer for the lecture describes "Value-based Management" as "the cornerstone of the 'proprietary interest model of industrial relations'; a model that does away with the current, wage-based, conflict model."

November/December 1991: Scrap Magazine publishes an article co-authored by EEI's Dawn Brohawn and Conservit CEO Jack Metzner ("Motivating Employees: Participation and Ownership are Keys"), describing how Value-Based Management is being introduced at Conservit, Inc.

September 1993: CESJ member Dawn Brohawn authors an article, "Value-Based Management: A Framework for Equity and Efficiency in the Workplace," which is included in the 1994 collection, Curing World Poverty: The New Role of Property, published by Social Justice Review (St. Louis, Missouri).

November 18, 1993: Equity Expansion International files an application for a "VBM" service mark with the U.S. Trademark Office, in the international classes of "016-books and printed matter in the field of business management" and "035-business management consulting services."   EEI is registered as the owner of the mark "VBM-Value-Based Management," but is not granted exclusive use, as the examining attorney deems the term "descriptive".

November 18, 2000: The Economist, U.S. Edition mentions that in a meeting of February 2000 a Mr. Barrett outlined a strategy for Barclay's Bank describing "Value-Based Management (VBM)" as "maximizing shareholder value.... The idea is to double economic profit, that is, profit after deducting the cost of capital." This was the first reference that EEI is aware of showing an alternative use of the term "Value-Based Management (VBM)."

October 20, 2001:  EEI allows VBM service mark to lapse, and decides to have CESJ re-apply for the service mark.

August 2, 2002: CESJ files application for "VBM-Value-Based Management" as a service mark with the U.S. Trademark Office. Soon after, CESJ learns of the alternative use by the Wall Street community and Harvard Business School to describe a corporate finance method for speculators.  CESJ decides that the alternative use of the term has become too widespread, and that the term "Justice-Based Management" more accurately describes the Kelso-Adler-Ferree philosophy of justice underlying the type of services being offered.  CESJ decides to allow the "VBM-Value-Based Management" service marks to lapse. CESJ also decides that it will establish an independent JBM (Justice-Based Management) Global Certification Board, consisting mainly of professionals and corporate executives not affiliated with EEI who are expert in implementing quality management through adherence to principles of economic and social justice, as advocated by CESJ and the Kelso Institute for the Study of Economic Systems.  This independent board is empowered to award the use of the certification mark by companies and consultants that meet JBM quality standards.

May 13, 2003: To establish proof of use in commerce, CESJ's board grants provisional use of the mark, "Justice-Based Management certified" to Equity Expansion International (the 100% worker-owned professional group that authored the idea and applies JBM principles in its own operation and governance) and a newly formed company (Once and Future Books, an imprint of Universal Values Media) which is also 100% worker-owned and JBM-structured.

July 1, 2003: CESJ applies to the U.S. Trademark Office for the mark, "JBM Justice-Based Management Certified," that would certify as "Justice-Based Managed" those companies providing marketable goods and services, and participatory ownership consulting services, to local, national, regional or global markets and fulfilling in their management systems specified criteria promoting a sustainable ownership culture. Approval pending.


William B. Ryan wrote:

"COG's silence is an indictment for their failure to
discipline people like Ryan."
-------------------------------

Sieg Heil.  You originally called it "Value Based
Management."  "Justice Based Management" is what you
recently changed the name to when the actual holders
of the trademark challenged your appropriation (i.e.
theft) of the term, eh?



--- "Norman G. Kurland" <thirdway@cesj.org> wrote:

  

I want to thank Ryan for unwittingly alerting all
COG participants to 
the web site of Equity Expansion International, a
professional team 
committed to designing Justice-Based Management
(JBM) systems for 
worker-owned companies. 
    

[snipped]


		
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