????每年，上市公司的股東都會投票決定董事會成員是否有資格連任。通常這只是走個過場。據(jù)股東顧問服務公司ISS的統(tǒng)計，標普500企業(yè)的董事一般都會獲得股東96%的支持率。不過醫(yī)療巨頭強生公司（Johnson & Johnson）的年度股東大會計劃在本周四舉行，屆時董事會成員的選舉可能充滿變數(shù)。隨著強生公司提名的候選人遭到越來越多股東的反對，投資人也已經(jīng)開始和董事會唱反調(diào)了。

????2011年，強生董事平均只獲得了88%的得票率，比2009年的94%有所下降。特拉瓦大學（University of Delaware）韋因伯格企業(yè)管理中心（John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance）主任查爾斯?艾爾森認為，這雖然聽起來并不是跌得很厲害，但88%的得票率對于一個大企業(yè)來說已經(jīng)很低了。他說：“如果得票率跌到80%多，證明的確存在問題。”

????強生的兩位董事——花旗集團（Citigroup）前CEO查爾斯?普林斯和艾默里大學（Emory University）校長邁克爾?瓊斯只獲得了股東80%左右的支持率，企業(yè)管理評級機構(gòu)GMI高級研究員保羅?霍奇森認為，這個比例實實在在地處于“危險區(qū)”內(nèi)。他說：“這證明有相當一部分的股東反對他們連任，這足以使一個董事會警覺起來。”

????強生公司的一位發(fā)言人在一封電子郵件中寫道，年會結(jié)束后，董事會將像往年一樣對投票結(jié)果進行分析。

財務狀況令人失望，產(chǎn)品召回影響口碑

????強生股東對董事會不滿的原因很好解釋。近年來，該公司好幾次被指控違反了法律，而且還遭遇了一系列貌似無休無止的產(chǎn)品召回，公司聲譽因此大受影響。而在2009年強生的產(chǎn)品尚未遭遇“召回門”的時候，強生還排在《財富》雜志（Fortune）評選的“全球最受贊賞公司”排行榜的第4位。而2012年，強生的總體排名已滑落到了第12位。

????另外，強生近年來的財務業(yè)績來也差強人意。過去兩年里，標普500企業(yè)的平均收益率已經(jīng)回升到17.5%，而強生股票的總體收益率只有5.3%。2009年和2011年，強生的凈收入都出現(xiàn)下跌，部分原因就是由于強生生產(chǎn)的非處方藥遭遇大范圍召回，導致公司銷售額損失超過10億美元。

????投資者們一般不會因為個別失誤就去懲罰董事會的成員，但強生的問題已經(jīng)不屬于這個范疇了：兩年前，美國司法部（the Department of Justice）指控強生向護理公司Omnicare提供回扣；去年強生又因為涉嫌在海外行賄而被罰了7,000萬美元的“和解費”。最近阿肯色州的一位法官又要求強生支付12億美元的罰金，理由是它涉嫌非法市場操作。

????此外，由于強生下屬的McNeil工廠生產(chǎn)的處方藥存在一系列問題（有的藥品存在明顯霉味，有的含有過量活性成分），強生不得不召回了幾百萬瓶涉事藥物。2009年第一輪召回風波后，強生關(guān)閉了McNeil工廠，并承諾將對質(zhì)檢規(guī)程進行整改，使產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量回到正軌。但是此后關(guān)于強生召回藥物的消息還是不時傳出。比如直到2012年2月，強生還召回了50多萬瓶泰諾（Tylenol）。現(xiàn)在強生表示直到2013年底前都不會再重新啟用涉事工廠。

????Every year, shareholders at public companies vote on whether their board members deserve another term or not. It's typically a non-event; the average director of an S&P 500 company wins 96% of the vote, according to proxy advisory firm ISS. But the directors of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, which hosts its annual shareholders' meeting Thursday, may face a rockier path to reelection. Investors have begun to turn against the board, with a growing contingent of shareholders voting against J&J's nominees.

????In 2011, the average J&J (JNJ) director won approval from just 88% of shareholders, down from 94% in 2009. That may not sound like a steep decline, but it's actually quite low for a large corporation, according to Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "When you get into the 80s, that's a real problem," he says.

????Two J&J directors -- Charles Prince, the former CEO of Citigroup (C), and Michael Johns, the chancellor of Emory University -- received support from about 80% of voters, which is well inside the "danger zone," according to Paul Hodgson, a senior research associate at GMI, a corporate governance ratings firm. "That's a very substantial proportion of shareholders," he says. "It should be enough to make a board sit up and take notice."

????A spokesperson for J&J wrote in an email that the board will analyze voting results after its annual meeting, as it does every year.

Red flags: Disappointing financials, recalls

????It's easy to see why J&J's shareholders are frustrated. In recent years, the company has been charged with several legal violations and endured a seemingly endless series of product recalls. Its reputation has taken a hit. Back in 2009, before the recalls began, J&J was ranked fifth on Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list. In 2012, J&J's overall rank dropped to 12.

????The company's financial results have also been underwhelming. J&J's stock has delivered a total return of 5.3% over the last two years, while the S&P 500 has returned 17.5%. Its net income declined in both 2009 and 2011, in part because the company lost more than $1 billion in sales because of recalls of over the counter drugs.

????Investors are typically wary of punishing directors for individual missteps. But J&J's troubles have been widespread. Two years ago, the Department of Justice charged the company with paying kickbacks to Omnicare (OCR), the nursing home pharmacy operator. Last year, the company agreed to pay a $70 million settlement over allegations that it paid bribes overseas. An Arkansas judge recently ordered J&J to pay $1.2 billion in penalties for illegal marketing practices.

????J&J has had to recall millions of bottles of over the counter drugs made by its McNeil subsidiary, citing issues such as bad odors and an excessive amount of active ingredients. After the initial spurt of recalls in 2009, J&J shut down the McNeil plant, promising to revamp its quality assurance practices in order to get production back on track. But recalls keep popping up. As recently as February 2012, the company had to recall more than 500,000 bottles of Tylenol. J&J now says it won't reopen the plant until late 2013.