The Corporation

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

Corporations are conformed by a large group of people which make decisions in order to obtain the highest amount of revenue. But legally and under people’s eyes corporations are perceived as a sole unit capable of buying and selling property, sue and be sued, and so on. So when something goes wrong, that can either affect society, the environment or the government itself, there is no one in particular so the actions are taken against a very powerful business unit which has the power to respond economically and has a big body of lawyers that will protect it. So specific persons such as the directors, employees, shareholders or the group of people responsible for the taken actions are not going to be blamed and be punished directly instead they are going to be hidden under the shield of the organization, which is always going to hide and try to make the errors made inside look as good as possible.

The above is the reality of the world today, but I think that the high executives and shareholders who are the ones that take the very big and sometimes erroneous decisions that could affect the society as a whole or even just a small group of people, should be punished one way or another, because if the system continues to protect them, they would keep on making enormous mistakes that may benefit them but not the rest of the society without even considering other options in which the damage would not be as high.