“What Went Wrong at Enron?” Trident University International Phillip M. Cherry Module 5 Case Assignment ETH 501: Business Ethics Dr. Michael Garmon March 1‚ 2012 3/1/2012 Introduction In this paper I will provide a critical evaluation of the Corporate Culture at Enron‚ explain how the business ethics and operations were influenced by the corporate culture‚ and what went wrong. In addition
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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room / Lack of Ethics Enron at one time was a Fortune 500 company‚ but in truth it was just a fallacy and a lie for what it truly was‚ an ethically bankrupt company that eventually became a bankrupt company. Henry Taylor‚ a 19th century statesman wrote “Falsehood ceases to be falsehood‚ when the truth is not expected to be spoken”. Enron senior management gets a failing grade on truth and disclosure. The purpose of ethics is to enable recognition of how a particular
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Enron scandal Enron shocked the world from being “America’s most innovative company” to America’s biggest corporate bankruptcy at its time. At its peak‚ Enron was America’s seventh largest corporation.From the 1990’s until the fall of 2001‚ Enron was famous throughout the business world and was known as an innovator‚ technology powerhouse‚ and a corporation with no fear. The sudden fall of Enron in the end of 2001 shattered not just the business world but also the lives of their employees. Enron
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BA 215 Spring 2007 Enron Stakeholder Assignment Enron was a dream come true for a lot of people‚ but it was also a nightmare waiting to happen for many more. I am going to examine the collapse of Enron from the management perspective. The three examples of Enron behaving badly that I am going to study are the incidents in Valhalla‚ the electricity trading in California and the conflict of interest between Andy Fastow and his special purpose entities (SPE). These are just a few cases that led
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very rotten in the state of Enron.” This quote by Michigan Senator Carl Levin is a twist of words from a famous playwright‚ Shakespeare’s Hamlet; “Something was very rotten in the state of Denmark.” From the play‚ this was recited because there was a lot of corruption in Denmark from the betrayal in royalty. In comparison to Levin’s quote‚ there was betrayal of Enron leaders to their employees‚ as well as the company itself. Between the years of 1979 and 2001‚ Enron was known for the largest market
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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room A white-collar crime by definition is a crime that is committed by individuals of higher status. It is not necessarily a violent crime‚ but could be depending on the situation. An individual who works in a professional environment‚ such as the government or corporation tend to take advantage of employees and manipulate them into thinking their practices are legitimate. Some examples‚ of white-collar crimes include fraud‚ embezzlement‚ insider trading‚ and other
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Enron and Ethics Failure is the best teacher not only for those who fail‚ but also for those who observe the failure. Thus‚ for many businesses the Enron scandal proved to be the greatest teacher. Since the fall of Enron‚ there have been several theories and examinations about why it failed as it was a corporation that no one imagined would ever crash. Based on research to date there are multiple reasons for Enron’s failure; however‚ one that stands out immensely is corporate disregard for ethics
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Enron: Leadership without Ethics and Practical Execution Enron‚ once one of the largest energy public companies globally‚ achieved a $65 billion asset volume but only took 24 days to go bankrupt. Initially‚ its main service is extracting natural gas and manufacturing energy-using products‚ but the excessively aggressive and benefit-oriented type of operation makes the company create lots of so-called "innovative" investment department and financial products. All these activities played as the
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Enron’s collapse was the result of unethical practices; alas‚ such practices had a long‚ ignominious presence. The Enron story begins with CEO Kenneth Lay‚ who in 1986 combined his Houston Natural Gas company with several other entities. Until 1996‚ Enron primarily sold natural gas. Yet‚ in a sign of trouble to come‚ in 1987 Lay overlooked evidence of financial misdeeds in the company’s Valhalla‚ NY unit as executives Louis Bourget and Thomas Mastroeni greatly inflated profits while embezzling
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Enron entered the year 2001 as the seventh largest public company in the U.S‚ only to exit the year as the largest company to ever declare bankruptcy in U.S history. a) What were the business risks Enron faced and how did those risks increase the likelihood of material misstatements in the Enron’s financial statements? Enron faces most of the risk ordinarily faced by any energy company‚ including price instability and foreign currency risks. Enron operated in many different areas of the
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