but then, MNCs exist in another world, legally. perhaps this is what was on tony blair's mind when he worriedly contacted shrub about the "new" US laws, which will be applied toothlessly and selectively if at all.
if international corporate crimes received the same attention war crimes purportedly receive, a lot of CEOs and staff would be hanged. why not throw a couple of them in with slobo milosevic for starters?
R
August 6, 2002
What the Hell are They Teaching at Harvard These Days? Corporate Crime Goes Global by Jerre Skog
Some of my fellow beings in the USA might feel that some of their mighty corporations are nothing but members of a giant (Dis-?) Organized Crime syndicate, there with the sole purpose of creating wealth for the higher CEOs and funding for the Reps and Dems, but that nevertheless the system works. The thought that their Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Global Crossing, Qwest and others too many to mention, are the few rotten apples on the world wide tree of business, where the rest of the fruit is clean, fresh and edible, might be tempting, but it is unfortunately self deceptive and not true. It is a big mess, really! But I can assure you that you are not alone. The fruit from the capitalist tree is not fit for consumption by even pigs, whether it is plucked in Europe, Asia or Africa. The creativity of accounting departments has finally left other corporate creativity far behind.
Today some late info on Swedish communications giant Ericsson arrived. Please sit down now!! Two years ago the CEOs' bonus were based on the results. Then Ericsson lost more than $3 Bn. Quickly restructuring the bonus to be based on cash-flow (and then hurriedly selling off subsidiaries, factories and everything that wasn't bolted down) the CEOs still managed to recieve a juicy bit of cash. Now there's not much left to sell and the CEOs risk losing their bonus. After two years of massive losses, when the shares have lost 95 % of their value, and 20 % of the work force has been kicked into insecurity, Ericsson now again restructures its bonus system to allow its CEOs to cash in. After a first half year 2002 of catastrophy, bonuses will be based on a combination of incoming orders and customers' payment capacity, those obviously on the way up. We can expect it to be a sad day indeed for all Swedes the next time their formerly proud, old and honest Ericsson changes its bonus system, as the logical next step is for it to be based on losses.
It may be perfectly legal but it belongs in a barred sandbox!
Last years Germany and others have had their fair share of corporate scandals. Multinational Monitor rated chemical multi Bayer AG among the Top Ten Worst Companies of the year in 2001. And though they might not have cooked their books, BASF and Hoffman-La Roche's crimes has lead to them being fined more than $ 700 mil recently. The pattern of blowing up earnings seems to be less common in Europe. Either the CEOs' bonuses are constructed in a way not encouraging such behaviour or there are better checks on the companies. Noone should think that other forms of corporate crime is unusual, however. Illegal donations to politicians is widespread and greed is widely found, perhaps illustrated by the boards thinking of "if it's for sale, buy it" until liquidity problems makes them go bust. The employees go to live on welfare while the CEOs find new lucrative employment.
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