The sight of British and American companies squabbling over pickings from the not-quite-dead corpse of Saddam Hussein's Iraq will confirm the widely held view that the business world will stop at nothing to pursue profit.
It is not just in the Middle East that there is a suspicion that the rationale for this war was to protect the interests of corporate America, with a few crumbs for its British friends. This will inevitably increase the volume of calls for more corporate responsibility and accountability.
This debate already has momentum (see www.openDemocracy.net). An increasingly affluent, educated and informed public has rising expectations of everything -- including corporate behavior -- as demonstrated by the growth in socially responsible investment.
But if the momentum of the debate is growing, the same cannot be said for the mutual comprehension of the protagonists. At one pole are the non-governmental organizations. They see no alternative to global legislation to compel companies to behave responsibly.
At the other are the free-market ideologues who believe the public interest is simply the sum of all private interests. Public intervention is an unwarranted interference in the sacred duty of a corporate management to its shareholders. The passion with which these views are held adds nothing to their clarity.
The business world must understand that it should explain more and assume less about its contribution to society. In the twenty-first century, the minimum social case is that what business does is legal, profitable and socially and environmentally responsible. Since business cannot decide for itself what is responsible, it must engage with a wide range of partners in order for this to be done. Limited liability is a privilege granted to corporate beings by society without which it is hard to imagine how they could play a beneficial role in our lives.
But the terms of that privilege are negotiable as circumstances change.
Most people have learnt that companies that provide jobs today can take them away tomorrow. A company's contribution to the economy as a whole is necessary, but it is no longer a sufficient reason for granting it a license to operate.
Corporations are already formally accountable to shareholders, employees, customers and regulators. Those calling for greater corporate responsibility need to be clearer about where those boundaries are and what part they play in defining them.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique