Discussion: The Corporation (film)

How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions "legally" and "ethically"?

It is really difficult to ensure because sometimes corporations have support of governmental institutions to do "what they want", and with that support they get profit so they would stay silent if there are violations in terms of law and ethics. If not, probably corporations would change place of operations to move to other places where restrictions are not so strong. That is why we can consider corporations not able to accomplish rules of social behavior according to the movie.

Should individuals (directors, employees, shareholders) bear any responsibility for the actions of a corporation? If so, on what degree?

There is a matter of attitudes and behavior since one person working for a company can have a set of values that can make him or her behave in a certain way but believe in another totally different, and it happens because as people are part of the system, they have to get what they "need" to survive, and if it implicates to go over and do not care about others, they will probably do so. I think it would be good to have employees that can work ethically and in a responsible way so they can admit what actions take in corporations in a certain degree.

What are the benefits of the corporate form? Could an alternative model offer them as well?

-Possibility of having property

-Having power for domination

-Be taken as "person" for the laws, so they are treated same way (more benefits for corporations)

An alternative model would maybe  implicate more restrictions and less benefits for them, that is why corporations have been so successful in recent years, and there is a controversial point: corporation as person, person as target; people are not being treated as it should be, they are only the mean for corporations to get profit through manipulation of "consumer's perceptions". So corporations can be successful only if this model continues, overlapping interests to people (consumers).

Search for a foreign multinational corporation that has operations in Colombia. Research if they are run under colombian rules or regulations or if they have special regulations?

Nestlé. They get to countries through "Corporative principles" and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). According to Iván Cepeda Castro, journalist for El Espectador, multinationals are implanted violently in Colombia, and they try to accumulate desperately capitals, but those two facts are not possible without the state power that allows them to do so, to auspiciate directly "every kind of abuses and massive acts of criminality". For Cepeda, that is the real law that can lead the pleasure of politicians in Colombia. And for me, it can be in some extent the truth, because sometimes the government/state overlook some actions of multinationals that affect colombian society, just because they are getting huge profits. What I can consider also truth is that, when there is absence of state in certain countries (target for MNCs), Multinationals become the force of the state, and they get the power and support to do what they want.  

Should economic efficiency (main argument for privatization) be primary concern for common and public services? Are there other criteria to determine who should own or operate them?

Not only economic efficiency but also common welfare should be primary concerns. What is contradictory is that, as the video showa, public institutions (supposed to care about common welfare) are less efficient since they can operate with no profit, so probably we can see privatization as the solution and the correct path to get profit. I think that is the reason why corporations are so strong. There should be of course some other criteria so private companies be aware of what actions can generate. For me, criteria would be:

- Common welfare.

- Damages done to the environment, people, development, sustainability, cultures, etc.

- Shared profit: Possibility of sharing success between corporations and places they work (normally poor or less -  developed countries).

- Level of commitment, loyalty and responsibility.

References:

- Cepeda Castro, Iván. La ley de las multinacionales (2007). El Espectador. Retrieved on: February 14th, 2011 from:http://www.elespectador.com/opinion/columnistasdelimpreso/ivan-cepeda-castro/columna-ley-multinacionales

-The Corporation - Film (Documentary) (Achbar, M - Abbott, J. 2003).