Corporations Don’t Have Morals

metamorworks

Let’s start with something that should be obvious. Corporations do not inherently have morals or beliefs. The people who run the corporations may have morals, but the corporation as an entity does not. A corporation is an entity defined by its incorporation document. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less. It may have additional flourishes and guidance documents but with it comes right down to the bedrock of what a corporation can and cannot do. It is in the incorporation document.

So, a corporation is only as moral as it’s management. This management is people who have goals, hopes, dreams, and one would hope morals. How ethical is the management of an average multinational corporation? From the evidence, not very. The morality of actions seems to be rather far down on their list of priorities, below making money for the stockholders, making money for themselves, gaining power for themselves, gaining power for their industry, and gaining power for their company. There may be a few above morality as well, but I listed off the five that at the top of almost every high-level manager’s list of priorities. The list is based on actions, not on words. Some companies have lofty mission statements, “don’t be evil” comes to mind, that they break well before they remove these goals from their mission statements. I have seen from inside multinational corporations and outside that, something about…