Halliburton Under Fire for Operations in IranWritten by Kirt Hill
The shareholders of Halliburton are trying to stop state-sponsored terrorism, using same economic leverage that was effective against South African racism in 1970's. Back then, shareholders used corporate resolutions to stop companies from doing business in South Africa. The tactic helped bring a peaceful end to an unpopular regime. Today, shareholders are trying to stop companies from doing business with "sponsors of terrorism". Many Americans would be alarmed to learn that American corporations are doing business with countries who are linked to terrorism. U.S. law currently restricts trade by American companies with states designated as "sponsors of terrorism." Halliburton is an American company doing business with two restricted nations - Iran and Syria. The company circumvented law by opening an office in Iran under name of Halliburton Products and Services Ltd, its Cayman Islands subsidiary. The U.S. government may not be able to stop company from using a subsidiary in this manner, but company is contending with an angry group of New York City Police and Fire Department pension fund owners. On November 12, 2002, group submitted a shareowner resolution regarding Halliburton's office in Iran. The resolution points out that U.S. law restricts trade by American companies in countries such as Iran, who are designated by U.S. State Department as "sponsors of terrorism." The company believes that operations of its subsidiaries in Iran are in compliance with U.S. law. Halliburton may, in fact, be operating legally in a technical sense. Some investors are not satisfied. According to William Thompson, New York City comptroller who oversees $80 billion in pension funds for all city workers, oil revenue from work company is doing may be underwriting or supporting terrorism. In March of 2003, Halliburton agreed to fulfill terms of resolution by establishing a Board committee to review potential financial and reputational risks of its Iranian operations and submit a report. Thompson subsequently withdrew resolution. However, Halliburton's report submitted in October of 2003 failed to address concerns specified in pension funds' proposal. The report focused on financial and legal risks, and said nothing about reputational risk, or potential public backlash against company. It's only a theory, but Halliburton may be reluctant to address issue due to fact that Vice-President of United States was in charge of corporation when Cayman subsidiary was formed. In any event, Thompson considered report to be a breach of Halliburton's promise to Fire and Police pension funds. In a letter to David J Lesar, CEO of Halliburton, Thompson said "your counsel cannot excuse Halliburton's complete failure to report on reputational risks of Halliburton's business activities in Iran by repeating, as she does, your report's statement that Halliburton's activities are technically within letter of law."
| | "Do You Mind If Someone Screams At You?"Written by Lora J Adrianse
A headhunter was on other end of phone. He was looking for an assistant to a CEO/Owner for a small, but very successful business. Essentially, he wanted someone at his disposal night and day. That didn't seem like a huge deal. And then next question came..."Do you mind if someone screams at you?" As soon as I could get past sirens going off in my head, and visions of Dilbert comic strips, I replied, "Yes, that's not acceptable". The headhunter continued, "Well, he probably wouldn't call you names, but he's a pretty hard driving guy and he raises his voice a lot". Yes, this is a true story, and it was my first conversation of day today. It's been enough to amaze and amuse me all day. Somehow I thought days of screaming bosses were buried with days of managing by intimidation. I guess I was wrong! I can't help but wonder if this guy has even heard of all work being done around emotional intelligence, or employee retention. Maybe he doesn't read. Message To The Screaming Boss... Chances are, your employees have one foot out door. They probably even spend a part of their working day reviewing emails and job postings at places like Monster.com. You are missing out on significant amounts of information. Why? Because nobody wants to be "the one" to tell you. What you don't know can hurt you. Every time you indulge in a screaming frenzy your employees spend time telling each other, talking about you, and maybe even looking for ways to push your buttons. After all, you've become entertainment.
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