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France Telecom and Monsanto
This document provides an outline for a case study comparing France Telecom and Monsanto. It summarizes their backgrounds, controversies, and impacts. For France Telecom, it describes the pressure from restructuring that led to a high rate of employee suicides. For Monsanto, it discusses the company's dominance of GM seeds, farmer debts and suicides in India, and legal issues with farmers in North America. It then compares the two companies' outsized power in their markets, demanding corporate cultures that prioritized profits, and the social and human costs of their actions, as well as the different levels of government intervention against each company.
France Telecom and Monsanto
- 1. FRANCE TÉLÉCOM AND MONSANTO BUS400 – Business Ethics By Célia Junon, Pradit Keomisy, Evan Palmer and Pierre Urier-Cattoire
- 2. OUTLINE Introduction Part I –France Télécom Part II – Monsanto Part III – Case Comparison Conclusion
- 3. INTRODUCTION “Every man hasthe right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau The social contract or Principles of Political Right, 1762
- 4. PART I –FRANCE TÉLÉCOM 1. Background information 2. Reactions 3. Actions and Consequences
- 5. A. Background Information 1.MAJOR HISTORICAL FACTS– A PROFIT-MAKING COMPANY 1996: the state-owned monopoly became a private firm Costs/Benefits approach 2002: Internet Bubble 2008: Financial Crisis 22 000 layoffs planned to increase the productivity by 15% between 2004 and 2006
- 6. 2. CORPORATE GOVERNANCEAND ETHICS 2003: Official Code of Ethics “We believe in the loyalty, integrity, motivation, skills, sense of initiative and accountability of our employees” Ethics Officers Whistle blowing program Group Ethics Committee
- 7. 3. What ledto problems/symptoms Top • Schizophrenic Government and European Directive • Private Market > Expectations Raised • Pressure on Top Managment Middle • Efficiency/Effectiveness • Pressure on Middle Managment Emp • Downsizing/Frozen Recruitment • Not aware of everything, Internal Competition • Pressure on the Employees
- 8. B. Reactions Management andInvestors • Personal issues • Statistics against emotion • “Faire la part des choses” • After Government intervention: new social contract (long term vision: 2015) • Training for managers • TV advertisement with employees as actors • No changes in FT quote (no visible reaction from investors) Employees and Costumers • Employees were first to react: • France Telecom Cries (Video) • Anti-boss song • Enquiry on employee’s feedback • FT is the biggest firm of a tripartite oligopoly: switch cost important no heavy reaction from costumers Wednesday, Sep. 16 2009 The first priority is to stop the contagion that's led to this infernal spiral of suicides. - Didier Lombard, CEO of France Telecom Corporate Social Responsibility Committee
- 9. Media • “The non-existingissue” • “When statistics kill the debate” • “From one suicide to a media storm” Led the national debate Government • Made the difference • Late intervention with “Fight against stress at work” campaign • Is the first shareholder of the company: has the most influence
- 10. April 2010 5 suicides in 15 days New position CEO C. Actions and Consequences
- 11. PART II –MONSANTO A. Past and Present B. In India C. In North-America
- 12. A. Background Information •Founding and history • 1980s and GMOs • Present • Reputation
- 13. B. Monsanto inIndia • GM seeds • Heavy promotion • Huge debts • Tough climate conditions cause failing crops • Mass suicides “Villagers gathered in the house of Anil Kondba Shende and looked at his body as the local police investigated his suicide.”
- 14. C. Monsanto inNorth-America • Monsanto’s North-American Reputation • Issues Monsanto Faces • Private Investigators • Many farmers keep quiet about their abuse Monsanto vs Schmeiser The Classic David vs Goliath Struggle
- 15. A few dayslater, representatives of a multi-national corporate group pay you a visit at home, demand that you surrender your vegetables and file a criminal complaint against you requesting a fine a $20,000 USD against you - for the illegal use of patented and genetically-manipulated seeds.” “Imagine that a storm blows across your garden - and that now, without your knowledge and without your consent, foreign and genetically-manipulated seeds are in your vegetable patch which you have nourished and maintained for many years.
- 16. PART III –CASE COMPARISON A. Power B. Business Cultures C. Social Consequences D. Government Interventioin
- 17. A. Power France Telecom Oligopoly Monsanto Monopoly HighImpact on the world and their markets Part of the leading image of what is good or wrong Smaller firms follow their lead Stakeholders expect a lot more from them than from other firms
- 19. EXACTING CULTURES MONSANTO enlightened egoism FRANCE TELECOM egoism Role of conflict of interest Suicide + Violence = Forms of Expression B. Two unique but not so different Corporate Cultures
- 20. C. Dramatic SocialConsequences Monsanto • Monsanto’s control over farmers • Financial and emotional burdens • Farmer Suicides In India France Telecom • Bad Management • Effects of downsizing
- 21. D. Government Intervention Monsanto •Sphere of influence • Little government intervention • Monsanto has a large sphere of influence in US politics France Telecom • Owns a 26.97% stake in the company • Board of directors are French State representatives • Government and union persuaded France Telecom to suspend employee transfers to lessen the stress on the workers
- 22. Monsanto’s “Employees” Prior tobeing the Supreme Court Judge who put GW Bush in office,Clarence Thomas was Monsanto's lawyer. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Anne Veneman) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Calgene Corporation. The Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Searle pharmaceuticals. The U.S. Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, received $50,000 in donations from Monsanto during his winning campaign for Wisconsin's governor. The two congressmen receiving the most donations from Monsanto during the last election were Larry Combest(Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee) and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
- 23. Conclusion For the attentionof my family And all my business associates The 13th of July, 2009 Thank you for spreading this message to my colleagues and employees representatives I killed myself because of my work at France Telecom. This is the only cause. Continuous “on- time” and short-deadlines pressures, extra load of work, lack of training, general disorganization of the company. “Terror Management”! I’m now completely lost and disturbed. What is to become of me? It is better to put an end to that. (...) I repeat, it is my work that causes all of that, it is France Télécom to blame for my suicide. Michel D. PS : I know that many of you will probably say they are other causes than work (I’m alone, single,without kids, and so on). Come will also imply that I felt my age and did not accept it. But it is not true, I was always doing well. It is my work the single cause.
Editor's Notes
- #4 “Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau The social contract or Principles of Political Right, 1762 Three centuries ago, the French author Jean-Jacques Rousseau described the action of committing suicide as a possible way of escaping danger. Today, two of the biggest companies in the world have faced suicide issues, from either employees or customers. Can these companies be, therefore, associated with danger? These modern “capitalist monsters” (Newitz, 2006) control our food (seeds, pesticides, etc.) and means of communication (internet, television, telephone and cellular). They exercise great influence on the government, and they’re so widespread that, in many situations, customers don’t have the option to choose a competitor’s product or service. Investors do not react to their missteps in ethical issues. They have more power than any other company in their industry. They are France Telecom and Monsanto Inc.
- #8 France Telecom has faced a turbulent upbringing, migrating from the public to private sector. Facing the new national competition, it had to make restructuring changes to remain competitive. Shortly after, the Internet bubble of 2002 occurred. This led to the idea that a massive reduction of debt, along with the reduction of job duplicates was the key objective of its new strategy, and would lead to increased employee productivity. The result was empowered but overworked and overstressed employees. Internal mobility was promoted, and employees were expected to perform multiple functions outside of their traditional roles. In 2004, another major downsizing occurred. Along with many employees retiring early and job transfers to the public sector, the recruitment of employees froze. The company decided to outsource some of its activities to cheaper countries, particularly in its call centres. The employees themselves weren’t immediately aware about what was going on. Then, when next-desk rivalry appeared, it created internal tension between workers. Some of them were even brutalized with psychological abuses, and all of this led to an increase in the feelings of loneliness when the competition among workers made them “turn themselves on each other”.
- #10 While some Media supported France Telecom, calling their employee suicides and coping strategies “The non-existing issue” and “When statistics kill the debate”, most of national medias took an opposite standpoint, creating the idea of “From one suicide to a media storm”. With the media in a frenzy and public outcry reaching a deafening level, the French government was forced to intervene. France Telecom was forced to improve its business practices while following the government (the most influential of its primary stakeholders) requirements. Shortly after, France Telecom created a new social contract between its employees and the company in order to restore confidence, with objectives set on a long-term vision for 2015. Next, the company decided to implement training for managers on psychological social risk prevention (6,000 trained in 2009). In October 2009, more than 2,700 local site meetings were organized with both manager and employee representatives to find the origins of the problem. In the end, they did not find anything more than what had been said by the media.
- #22 Monsanto’s Influence: 80% of the beef consumed in the US, 80% of the farmland acreage through its Roundup corn, 93% of US soy beans