London Business School Launches New Center for Corporate Governance

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- London
Business School and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) today announced a center for
corporate governance to lead international thinking and serve the
needs of business and policymakers. The new center is backed by
Oracle, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Prudential, and aims to
provide independent research and recommendations of value to policy
makers, corporations, investors and other interest groups.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO )

Combining cross-disciplinary research designed to influence the
corporate governance debate and focused on the needs of practitioners,
the center will be chaired by Professor Julian Franks and be based at
the School. It will examine contentious issues surrounding corporate
governance, including shareholder activism, measuring CEO and board
effectiveness, valuing corporate social responsibility, and the new
demands on boards and how these demands can be improved by information
management and systems.

"The changing regulatory environment means that companies today face
an expanding array of new challenges regarding corporate governance,"
said Laura D. Tyson, Dean at London Business School. "We at London
Business School have always been at the forefront of research in this
area, and are very excited by the launch of the Centre for Corporate
Governance. It will be a leading source of information and research
for practitioners and policymakers alike."

"There is a real and urgent need for business to recognize that
information management and systems are central to good governance,"
said Dr Juan Rada, Oracle Senior Vice President. "All the recent and
well-documented examples of corporate governance failure show to one
extent or another that there was no single source of reliable
information within those companies."

Edward Braham, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partner notes
the contributions that consortium members will make, pointing to the
practical experience of Freshfields as a leading international law
firm. "We can bring a practical and international perspective to the
research, based on our experience advising clients in many markets
across the world," he said. "We are looking forward to working with
the other sponsors and London Business School on this important
initiative."

"Good corporate governance is part of the life blood of all
corporations," said Peter Maynard, Group Legal Services Director and
Company Secretary of Prudential Plc. "As a publicly listed
organization, and a significant investor in other companies,
Prudential believes it is important that the key stakeholders in
companies have access to high quality independent research on the
development of policy, practical implementation and the value of
corporate governance. We believe that London Business School's Centre
for Corporate Governance will provide this service."

About London Business School

London Business School's Vision is to be the pre-eminent global
business school, nurturing talent and advancing knowledge in a
multi-national, multicultural environment. Founded in 1965, the School
graduated over 800 MBAs, Executive MBAs, Masters in Finance, Sloan
Fellows and PhDs from over 70 countries last year. The School's
executive education department serves over 6,000 executives on its
programs every year. London Business School is based in the most
accessible and international city in the world and is one of only two
UK business schools to have twice been awarded the highest research
rating of five-star (5*), by the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE), confirming the School as a center of world-class
research in business and management. www.london.edu.

About Oracle

Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more
information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com
.

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Oracle, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft are registered trademarks of Oracle
Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of
their respective owners. SOURCE Oracle Corporation