All too often, it appears that company bosses are in a win-win situation. They attract the higher salaries, the bonuses and the enhanced pension packages while, when things go sour, it is generally the ordinary employee who pays via redundancy. All too often, especially in Britain and Ireland, departing bosses receive considerable packages to ease the pain of corporate failure.

So it's reassuring to see that even the mighty can feel the pinch. Walt Disney chairman Michael Eisner, who got a $5 million (€4.9 million) bonus in 1998, did not get a bonus in 1999 because Disney failed to meet financial targets. He wasn't alone. Vice-chairman Roy Disney and others also got no bonuses.

Disney struggled in 1999, with slumping sales for consumer products and lower product licensing revenues. Missing out on bonuses of that size is one sure way of concentrating management minds on performance going forward.