Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. has hired Lehman Brothers to help evaluate strategic options.

Maxine Clark, chief executive bear, said the company will continue to implement its strategy of expansion, but also said Build-A-Bear had an obligation to shareholders to consider a broad range of potential strategic alternatives.

That’s right. Chief Executive Bear. That is Clark’s official title in company press releases and on the company’s web site. (Actually, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Bear to be precise.) The company also has a Chief Workshop Bear, Chief Information Bear, Chief Financial Bear, Chief Marketing Bear and Chief Operating Bear.
While those titles may work as part of the internal culture for a retailer centered around teddy bears, they might convey a different message on Wall Street, said Laura Hartman, professor of business ethics at DePaul University’s College of Commerce.

” ‘Chief Executive Bear’ is not a very aggressive role within the business community,” Hartman said when asked about how corporate cultures can be perceived.

“When you create a corporate culture, once you create it, you do not have complete control over how is perceived,” Hartman said. She noted that a bear could be perceived as too soft and even hibernating.

Build-A-Bear did not return a call to the World Bear-quarters (that’s what the voice message said) for comment on the corporate culture and Bear titles.