An obsession with metrics has led to a business culture in many industries that is more concerned with meeting targets than the wider good the measure was intended to represent.
It used to be outside actors like NGOs and governments that forced companies to be environmentally friendly. But some are building their brand on their CSR.
Chairman and major shareholder of 7-Eleven Russ Withers sits in a Senate Committee hearing in Melbourne.
Julian Smith/AAP
Computers control much of an engine’s performance these days. And it’s surprisingly easy to tweak the software to bypass emissions controls, as done by Volkswagen.
What’s to prevent an IT worker doing something against the public’s interest?
Shutterstock/oneinchpunch
Many professionals risk the wrath of their governing body if they act against any code of ethics. But not so the IT industry. Is it time for that to change?
Australia’s Volkswagen subsidiary has come in for criticism for its handling of the crisis.
Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
Volkswagen’s command and control approach has not helped its global response to the emissions scandal, with Australian customers left waiting for more than two weeks.
The VW emissions scandal gives governments every right to increase their supervisory role beyond regulation and to involve themselves to a much larger degree in economic activity.
Governments are just as much to blame when it comes to letting car manufacturers get away with dodging regulation requirements, as the companies themselves.
Australia’s lower standards for car exhaust mean overseas car-makers can sell more-polluting cars.
Exhaust image from www.shutterstock.com
It’s likely that many people knew Volkswagen was cheating on emissions tests, including the engineers who built the ‘defeat device’. But why did no-one at the car maker blow the whistle?
Herbert Diess, chairman of Volkswagen’s passenger cars brand, fronts the media ahead of his meeting at the European Commission.
Yves Herman/Reuters
Volkswagen’s emissions cheat didn’t just anger owners and regulators; the cost to human health from violating air quality rules exceeds US$100 million.
How much can corporate culture explain VW’s deception?
Jim Young/Reuters
Volkswagen’s emissions deception and a case of alleged price-gouging around pharmaceuticals are part of a troubling trend of businesspeople who operate with little regard for ethics.