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Banking Sector Diamonds (Dimons) Lose Their Luster
- July 5, 2012
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Banking, Corruption, Ethics, News
No CommentsBarclay’s London-based CEO, Bob Diamond, was ousted this week as a result of an admitted manipulation of the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR). LIBOR has long been one of the world’s most used financial indices. Manipulation of LIBOR by Barclay’s and other banks, directly impacts consumers and businesses. Barclay’s first manipulated the rate so as
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Wal-Mart Reports Strong Sales Despite Bribery Scandal. What’s a Little Corruption Among Friends?
- May 17, 2012
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Information Technology, News, Retail
It was announced, today, that Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s profit and sales surpassed expectations, causing share prices to rise, briefly recovering the 8+% loss after the bribery scandal was uncovered (See Ethics For Sale at Wal-Mart.) Shares eventually settled up 4 percent. This occurred despite ongoing internal and government probes into bribery of Mexican government officials.
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Ethics for Sale at Wal-Mart
- April 24, 2012
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Information Technology, News, Retail
It was reported, over the weekend, that Wal-Mart has been involved, over a number of years, in bribery of high-level Mexican officials in order to fast-track building permits in the company’s largest international division, Wal-Mart de Mexico. This activity took place, while the company was actively, along with other large businesses, lobbying to soften the
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The Short-selling of Higher Education
- February 3, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Higher Education, News, Public Sector
In August of 2010, Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote an article in Forbes magazine, taking on “For-profit” institutions of higher education. These would include universities such as the University of Phoenix, DeVry University, Kaplan University, and Walden University, among others. Senator Harkin’s
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SAP-gate – Openly Acknowledged Software Piracy in Muddy Waters
- November 27, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Legal, News, Software
There is sometimes a fine line between competitive intelligence, the legal practice of gathering, analyzing and managing information on competitors and corporate espionage, the illegal practice of spying, intelligence gathering, and outright theft for competitive advantage. However, in today’s world of ethical relativism, or, rather, the outright lack of ethics, that line is becoming a
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Power + Knowledge ≠ Wisdom: The Fall of an IBM Executive
- September 16, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Legal, News
Early in 2001, I rode the IBM corporate helicopter to accompany senior executives, of a large insurance company, to a meeting at the executive wing at IBM’s headquarters in Armonk, NY. Waiting for us, in his own, personal, conference room, was Sam Palmisano, then president of IBM. Also waiting in the conference room was Robert
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HP Rides the Slippery Slope from Ethics Violations to Charges of Corruption
- September 10, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Legal, News
Yesterday, it became known that the U.S. was widening its investigation into possible bribes paid by Hewlett-Packard to help win a contract in Russia. The government probe began in April when authorities arrested three HP employees in Germany and Switzerland who were charged, by German prosecutors, with bribery, embezzlement, and tax evasion in connection with
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Hurd Joins Oracle – An Ethical Strike Three?
- September 8, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, News
We wrote earlier about the dismissal of HP CEO Mark Hurd for ethics violations. We were reminded of a previous ethics mess that Hurd was tied to at the time that he was President of HP. His role in that issue was rewarded by his being elevated to CEO. At the time of his departure
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HP = “Huge Problem” and Poster Child of Situational Ethics
- August 6, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Ethics, Leadership, News
Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd abruptly resigned today after the company revealed his secret relationship with a former contractor. This sent the stock tumbling in afterhours trading. The company said he falsified expense reports and other financial documents to conceal the relationship and help get the contractor paid for work she didn’t do. Hurd said