Economics
BRIBERY SCANDAL AT SIEMENS AG Abstract:
This case discusses the bribery scandals that were unearthed at Siemens AG (Siemens) in 2006 and 2007. There were a series of scandals that involved some of the company's employees bribing foreign officials to gain contracts and creating slush funds for this purpose. In another case, the company was accused of bribing labor representatives on the supervisory board in order to gain their support for its policies. After the German authorities conducted raids on in Germany, investigations were initiated on Siemens in several other countries like the US, Greece, Italy and Switzerland for possible misconduct. As a fallout of this scandal, the CEO of the company, Klaus Kleinfeld, and the chairman of the supervisory board, Heinrich von Pierer, had to resign even though they were not directly implicated. With bribery scandals surfacing in Siemens and many other German companies like Volkswagen, questions were also raised about the effectiveness of the Co-determination law in Germany, which advocated a system in which a supervisory board governed the management board and at least half the supervisory board seats had to be filled by labor representatives. In such a system, critics contended that the management always needed the labor representatives' support to be in job and gain support for company policies, which led to a suspicious alliance between them. The case also highlights the opinions of several analysts on the issues related to bribing by the German companies and Siemens in particular and the challenges the new CEO is likely to face at Siemens.
Introduction
In December 2008, the Munich, Germany-based Siemens AG (Siemens) agreed to pay fines to the tune of ¼1 billion towards settlement of corruption charges that had hit the company since 2006. This included a record US$800 million fine imposed by the US authorities and another ¼395 million imposed by German authorities. This ¼1 billion was in addition to the billions
This case discusses the bribery scandals that were unearthed at Siemens AG (Siemens) in 2006 and 2007. There were a series of scandals that involved some of the company's employees bribing foreign officials to gain contracts and creating slush funds for this purpose. In another case, the company was accused of bribing labor representatives on the supervisory board in order to gain their support for its policies. After the German authorities conducted raids on in Germany, investigations were initiated on Siemens in several other countries like the US, Greece, Italy and Switzerland for possible misconduct. As a fallout of this scandal, the CEO of the company, Klaus Kleinfeld, and the chairman of the supervisory board, Heinrich von Pierer, had to resign even though they were not directly implicated. With bribery scandals surfacing in Siemens and many other German companies like Volkswagen, questions were also raised about the effectiveness of the Co-determination law in Germany, which advocated a system in which a supervisory board governed the management board and at least half the supervisory board seats had to be filled by labor representatives. In such a system, critics contended that the management always needed the labor representatives' support to be in job and gain support for company policies, which led to a suspicious alliance between them. The case also highlights the opinions of several analysts on the issues related to bribing by the German companies and Siemens in particular and the challenges the new CEO is likely to face at Siemens.
Introduction
In December 2008, the Munich, Germany-based Siemens AG (Siemens) agreed to pay fines to the tune of ¼1 billion towards settlement of corruption charges that had hit the company since 2006. This included a record US$800 million fine imposed by the US authorities and another ¼395 million imposed by German authorities. This ¼1 billion was in addition to the billions