2010
Corporate malfeasance
An almost perfect storm of closely-timed, catastrophic events has led to growing citizen rage about corporate wrong-doing. Some of this rage is well deserved—think Toyota, Halliburton, and BP. And some of it—consider, for example, the public flogging of Goldman Sachs—may or may not be entirely justified. (Some thoughtful commentators, such as Warren Buffet, have publicly stated that Goldman Sachs’ tendency to “bet against its clients” was simply what any reasonable investment bank would/should do.)
But to some extent, it doesn’t matter whether the rage is justified or not. The court of public opinion has turned against large corporations. And there will be consequences.
Discussion of “the corporate death penalty”, which had been dormant for over a decade, has resurfaced in a very public way. For example, on Monday, well-known talk show host Thom Hartmann took to the airwaves (and “blog waves”), asking whether it’s time to instate a corporate death penalty. He makes the following points:
- In the eyes of the law, corporations are treated as “people”
- People are subject to the death penalty (at least in the vast majority of the US)
- Therefore, why shouldn’t corporations be subject to the death penalty by a revocation of their corporate charter?
Now you may or may not believe that we should have a death penalty (I personally don’t). But that is largely irrelevant. Hartmann raises a legitimate question, and one that I believe is and will continue to be asked by ordinary folks around the world. Why do we continue to tolerate this harmful behavior from corporations?
As the internet continues to promote technology-enabled people power, this question will become more and more difficult to ignore. If corporations (particularly in the US) want to avoid an era of heavy-handed regulation, then they need to take action to demonstrate greater worthiness.
This is a topic that my co-authors and I are exploring in detail in our new book, Good Company: The New Economics of People, Planet, and Profit. Stay tuned.
Tagged corporate death penalty