????沃爾瑪?shù)?5位董事會(huì)成員中有10位是獨(dú)立董事,。與該公司直接相關(guān)的有五位,，包括杜克、斯考特以及沃爾頓家族的三名成員,，羅伯?沃爾頓以及他的弟弟吉姆?沃爾頓和女婿格里高利?潘納爾,。潘納爾曾經(jīng)在沃爾瑪日本分公司工作過(guò)。沃爾瑪?shù)氖紫瘓?zhí)行官和董事長(zhǎng)職位是分離的,，董事長(zhǎng)職務(wù)由羅伯?沃爾頓擔(dān)任,。

????公司治理評(píng)級(jí)機(jī)構(gòu)GMI公司的高級(jí)助理研究員保羅?霍奇森表示,，家族成員擔(dān)任董事能夠強(qiáng)化公司的業(yè)績(jī)，因?yàn)樗麄儗?duì)于企業(yè)成功的追求通常與公司股東是相一致的,。他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)道,，除了沃爾頓家族的三人，從沃爾瑪司的企業(yè)規(guī)模來(lái)看,，其外部董事所占比例還是很高的,。

????研究企業(yè)治理的田納西大學(xué)教授拉瑞?福沃爾表示，“么是獨(dú)立董事會(huì),，什么是真正的外部董事,，要對(duì)此進(jìn)行定義是非常困難的?！?他表示,，在沃爾瑪至少一半董事都與沃爾瑪以外的公司有關(guān)。

????沃爾瑪年收益4,470億美元,，在2011年財(cái)富五百?gòu)?qiáng)排名第一位,。對(duì)于沃爾瑪這樣的超大型企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，很難找到一位來(lái)自一家并未與沃爾瑪有任何方面業(yè)務(wù)合作的公司的董事會(huì)成員人選,。但這些董事的社會(huì)關(guān)系還是有必要加以說(shuō)明的,。沃爾瑪在委托書里也對(duì)此進(jìn)行了解釋。

????沃爾瑪指出,，Accel Partners公司的吉姆?布雷耶直接或間接擁有社交媒體平臺(tái)公司Kosmix不到3%的股份,，而后者是沃爾瑪于2011年收購(gòu)的企業(yè)。Accel公司某基金擁有Kosmix公司超過(guò)15%的股份,，在此次收購(gòu)中獲得3,570萬(wàn)美元,。該委托書還表示，布雷耶是獨(dú)立董事中的首席董事,，他并未參與沃爾瑪挑選Kosmix公司作為收購(gòu)目標(biāo)的過(guò)程,，而且也回避了相關(guān)的討論。

????GMI公司的霍奇森在電子郵件中寫道,，“他是一位風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資家,，因此，他更有可能對(duì)沃爾瑪有意收購(gòu)意的公司進(jìn)行直接或間接投資,。這并不是說(shuō)布雷耶的獨(dú)立性不會(huì)受到潛在影響,，恰恰相反，這正好可以解釋為什么這種情況可能會(huì)發(fā)生,?！?/p>

????沃爾瑪還與那些其董事會(huì)成員參與管理的公司進(jìn)行業(yè)務(wù)合作。董事米歇爾?伯恩斯在2011年10月之前擔(dān)任美世咨詢公司（Mercer）首席執(zhí)行官。該公司收到364萬(wàn)美元作為2012財(cái)年的咨詢服務(wù)費(fèi),。此外,，沃爾瑪董事阿恩?索倫森是萬(wàn)豪國(guó)際集團(tuán)（Marriott International）首席執(zhí)行官，沃爾瑪公司曾支付給該集團(tuán)1,900萬(wàn)美元作為“酒店,、住宿和相關(guān)服務(wù)”費(fèi),。萬(wàn)豪集團(tuán)曾經(jīng)花100萬(wàn)美元從沃爾瑪采購(gòu),。

????霍奇森表示,，“如果你具有完全的獨(dú)立性，你應(yīng)該更容易提出質(zhì)疑,。但如果1,900萬(wàn)美元的業(yè)務(wù)取決于你在沃爾瑪?shù)牧?chǎng),，就沒(méi)那么容易了?！?/p>

????譯者：李玫曉/汪皓

????Wal-Mart lists 10 of its 15 directors as independent. The five with direct connections to the company are Duke, Scott, and three members of the Walton family -- Rob Walton, his brother Jim Walton, and Rob Walton's son-in-law Gregory Penner, who previously worked for Wal-Mart in Japan. While Wal-Mart does split its CEO and chairman roles, Rob Walton, not an independent director, holds the chairman position.

????Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at corporate governance ratings agency GMI, says that family members as directors can reinforce a company's performance because their concerns for success are often aligned with those of shareholders. But beyond the Waltons, he added, there's a high proportion of what he called outside-related directors for a company of Wal-Mart's size.

????"When you truly start looking at what is an independent board, what truly is an outside director, the way you define it is really difficult," says Larry Fauver, a professor at the University of Tennessee who focuses on governance. He noted that at Wal-Mart at least half the directors have a connection to the company beyond the board.

????Wal-Mart's scale, $447 billion in revenue and No. 1 on the 2011 Fortune 500 list, does make it hard to find a board member candidate who is affiliated with a company that doesn't do business with the retail giant in some capacity. But the directors' relationships are worth pointing out -- which Wal-Mart does in its proxy.

????The company noted that Accel's Jim Breyer owned directly and indirectly less than 3% of Kosmix, which Wal-Mart acquired in 2011; certain Accel Funds owned more than 15% of Kosmix and received about $35.7 million in the transaction. The proxy stated that Breyer, who serves as presiding director when the independent board members meet, was not involved in Wal-Mart's identification of Kosmix as an acquisition target and recused himself from all discussions.

????"He is a venture capitalist so it becomes more likely that he has some kind of direct or indirect investment in a wide range of companies that might be acquired by Wal-Mart," Hodgson of GMI said in an email. "That's not to say it doesn't potentially compromise his independence, but it does explain how it might happen."

????Wal-Mart also does business with companies where its board members are officers. Until October 2011, director Michele Burns was CEO of Mercer, which received $3.64 million for consulting services in fiscal 2012. Additionally, Wal-Mart director Arne Sorenson is CEO of Marriott International, which received $19 million from Wal-Mart for "hotel, lodging, and related services." Marriott paid Wal-Mart $1 million for purchases.

????"If you are fully independent," says Hodgson, "it's much easier for you to raise questions than if $19 million of business is riding on your staying in Wal-Mart's good books."