There are lessons to be drawn from these corporate situations.
As the Merrill case suggests on both sides of the Pacific, little more than a decade of rigorous deregulation has left the US a swamp in terms of conflict of interest. The most august companies in the land are mired in it. And more self-regulation -- the proposal implicit in the so-called Merrill reforms -- indicates only that Americans aren't learning their own fundamental lessons.
In the case of Global Crossing, with its huge overhang of excess capacity, we see that misallocation of capital in the name of market forces is among the least acknowledged calamities of the great, thank-goodness-they're-gone 1990s.
Markets don't lead. They are reactive, and too often over-reactive. Global Crossing brought this truth to Asia, and one hopes that one of the Asian bids to take over the regional subsidiary is accepted and leads to a well-considered rationalization.
As to Enron, it's hard to say more, but there is this: Transparency is a dream to which we may wish to aspire, but the Americans have nothing whatsoever to teach or give the world in this respect.
This is the take-home lesson of Enron's engagement with Asia, notably in that grossly wasteful electricity project in India called Dabhol Power Co.
The last and largest lesson is that Asia is on its own, finally. The region needs to consider some of the principles espoused by Americans advancing their interests at home and abroad. Over-regulation is a problem here, under-regulation there.
The absence of transparency is a problem, and conflict of interest is a problem. They're all familiar enough around the region.
But Asians should distinguish between worthy principles and the unworthy way they have been corrupted in the US. For once, do as they say, not as they do, is the sensible way to view the unraveling of the American model.
Asians should absorb the universal principles, and then find their own ways of incorporating them. If there's any silver linings in the mess of American corporate life today, confirmation of this truth ought to be on the list.
Patrick Smith is a former correspondent in Asia. The opinions expressed are his own.
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