Assignment
BUSINESS SOCIETY and ETHICS (BBMM501)
Case Study Report
DUE WEEK 5.1
Learning Outcome Assessed: a - e
Weighting: 30%
Written Report Case Study Analysis (2000 words)
Assessment -2
Ethics, morality and leadership: The AWB scandal
The series of corporate scandals and transgressions that have emerged over the last decade, including those associated with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Alcoa, Enron, HIH, Merck, Lehman Brothers, Parmalat, Union Carbide and WorldCom, have not only contributed to global financial crises. They have also raised questions about the quality of corporate leadership and ethics, and damaged the psychological relationships between such companies and their multiple stakeholders. Studies of such scandals and transgressions in Australia suggest that fraud, including corporate scandals and institutional corruption, has cost the Australian economy dearly.
This is supported by extensive research on corruption carried out by Transparency International, which targets particular countries in Asia and Africa and their governments for special attention. In response, many governments and enlightened corporations have established tighter corporate governance (CG) and personal accountability regulations and mechanisms, together with a wide range of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. While the former are aimed specifically at preventing fraud and other unethical practices, CSR is primarily intended to enhance corporate reputations through undertaking socially responsible community activities.
In the case of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), the government-owned monopoly wheat exporter, a combination of incompetence, pragmatism and clear deception led to the scandal that engulfed AWB in 2006. Together with other competitors, AWB was found to have been involved in the provision of large amounts of kickbacks to government representatives in Iraq in order to ensure the
Case Study Report
DUE WEEK 5.1
Learning Outcome Assessed: a - e
Weighting: 30%
Written Report Case Study Analysis (2000 words)
Assessment -2
Ethics, morality and leadership: The AWB scandal
The series of corporate scandals and transgressions that have emerged over the last decade, including those associated with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Alcoa, Enron, HIH, Merck, Lehman Brothers, Parmalat, Union Carbide and WorldCom, have not only contributed to global financial crises. They have also raised questions about the quality of corporate leadership and ethics, and damaged the psychological relationships between such companies and their multiple stakeholders. Studies of such scandals and transgressions in Australia suggest that fraud, including corporate scandals and institutional corruption, has cost the Australian economy dearly.
This is supported by extensive research on corruption carried out by Transparency International, which targets particular countries in Asia and Africa and their governments for special attention. In response, many governments and enlightened corporations have established tighter corporate governance (CG) and personal accountability regulations and mechanisms, together with a wide range of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. While the former are aimed specifically at preventing fraud and other unethical practices, CSR is primarily intended to enhance corporate reputations through undertaking socially responsible community activities.
In the case of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), the government-owned monopoly wheat exporter, a combination of incompetence, pragmatism and clear deception led to the scandal that engulfed AWB in 2006. Together with other competitors, AWB was found to have been involved in the provision of large amounts of kickbacks to government representatives in Iraq in order to ensure the