CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, business ethics and conscientious management – feel-good phrases from a more innocent time and the titles of the less rigorous modules on business school syllabuses. Hard-nosed business people mocked such pursuits as distractions from the priorities
of profit-making, but they were held close to the bosoms of those responsible for marketing and media relations.
The stark truth was laid bare years ago with the likes of Enron and the soft-lit public façade has all but collapsed recently to reveal the gory innards of everyday global business. Once-lauded leaders are now held in low esteem – in some cases rightly so.
Corporate responsibility in current times seems to mean that somebody else is responsible for the mess – usually the few employees left behind. Meanwhile, the corporate sky is awash with golden parachutes, and inexplicable bonuses continue to be paid. The most galling perhaps is AIG, bailed
out by the US taxpayer to the tune of $152 billion, yet giving out $92,500 to $4 million to 168 employees earning salaries of between $160,000 and $1 million.
Barack Obama has hit out at current Wall St bonus payments as "shameful".
Meanwhile, at the frontline of the recession, local enterprises are struggling to keep doors open and secure credit, understandably appalled at such avarice. And it is they – not the people on the fat bonuses – who may provide the way out of this mess. Well-run enterprises need support.
The challenges facing Irish firms are daunting: ever-restricted access to credit, soaring utility costs and a sterling exchange rate that means, for example, British retailers Sainsburys and Asda hold a 2.5 per cent share of the Republic's grocery market, according to TNS Worldpanel – despite the fact neither chain has any shops here.
As much as the public finances need to be addressed, we need to help private sector businesses compete and, crucially, sustain employment. There have been various schemes introduced across the EU to support businesses and we need similar initiatives here. The relaxation of the EU's state aid regulations of late paves the way for Government support.
As important as it is to keep our financial institutions afloat, the ship will still sink if the small and medium businesses across the country don't survive.
