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Corporate Culture and Greed — The Case of the Australian Wheat Board

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  • Felicity Fallon
  • Barry J. Cooper

Abstract

type="main"> Between 1999 and 2002, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) was involved in an elaborate bribery, or ‘kickback’, scheme involving the illicit payment of A$300 million to the Iraq government for supposed ‘transportation fees’ that were funnelled to the Saddam Hussein regime. This was clearly in breach of the United Nations trade sanctions and was apparently perpetrated by the AWB to secure continued sales with the lucrative Iraqi market. This paper aims to gain further insight into how a corporate culture can lead to greed, corruption and deception. Specifically, this study aims to add to the literature by analysing, using Schein's (1997, 2004) theoretical framework, a case on the development of a corrupt corporate culture. Content analysis of official investigative reports and other published documents is used to determine the extent to which the AWB's corporate culture and leadership may have influenced the behaviour of senior managers. The findings indicate that the culture within the AWB fostered an environment in which senior managers placed sales and profits above the sanctions clearly enunciated by the United Nations.

Suggested Citation

  • Felicity Fallon & Barry J. Cooper, 2015. "Corporate Culture and Greed — The Case of the Australian Wheat Board," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(1), pages 71-83, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:25:y:2015:i:1:p:71-83
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/auar.12031
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steven Dellaportas & Barry J. Cooper & Peter Braica, 2007. "Leadership, Culture and Employee Deceit: the case of the National Australia Bank," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 1442-1452, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. E. Julie Hald & Alex Gillespie & Tom W. Reader, 2021. "Causal and Corrective Organisational Culture: A Systematic Review of Case Studies of Institutional Failure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 457-483, November.
    2. Anthony D. Miller & David Oldroyd, 2018. "An Economics Perspective on Financial Reporting Objectives," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(1), pages 104-108, March.
    3. Hald, Julie & Gillespie, Alex & Reader, Tom W., 2021. "Causal and corrective organisational culture: a systematic review of case studies of institutional failure," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106537, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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