The Whitbread Umbrella: A Structural Response to Shareholder Activism
研究英国前家族企业惠特布雷德采用的多重股权结构（惠特布雷德伞），分析其是否有利于长期战略决策，并联系当前美国等地的多重股权流行趋势。
This article investigates a structural ownership model that is used to protect firms from unwelcome capital market intrusion: a multiple-share arrangement. It details the evolution of one of the United Kingdom’s most successful former family firms, Whitbread, in the post-World War II era. In investigating the formation and operation of the so-called Whitbread Umbrella, the study poses the question of whether it was a positive factor in long-term strategic decision making at Whitbread. The emerging popularity of multiple-share ownership structures in the United States, as well as their endurance in other jurisdictions, positions this historic analysis in wider debates on structure, ownership, and corporate governance in the finance, economics, and general management literature.