Corporate Scam, Indictment and Reform: Louis Berger’s Values-based Approach to Reform

Abstract

Corporate improbity and greed invariably impact a multitude of stakeholders both within the rogue corporation and beyond. Codes of conduct when breached violate the principles of morality and cause a lot of dismay to those impacted. A novice student of corporate governance might struggle to articulate the boundaries of morality. In situations where there is a conflict between corporate morals and corporate profits, what should take precedence – values or benefits? Louis Berger is a US based international consulting behemoth that provides infrastructure and economic development services across 80 countries globally. Embroiled in a whistle blower’s litigation and subsequent investigation by the Department of Justice it was caught defrauding the US taxpayers for well over a decade between 1997 and 2007. The company is a good example of how a global corporation enmeshed in indictments of wilful fraud by its former CEO and reckless violation of penal statutes by its senior employees is trying to reinvent itself to become a model corporate citizen. Its success or failure in becoming so will largely depend on the robustness of its corporate governance mechanisms and its willingness to leave behind its historic blunders.