Pugad Greedy: A History of Abuse and Bullying

NO WONDER THEY ARE DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN THE PHILIPPINES, ANOTHER THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!!!

Nestle drops $6 million demand from Ethiopia
by Global Information Network
January 4, 2003

New York, Jan 1 (GIN) -- Under pressure from aid agencies and mounting bad publicity, Swiss-based multinational Nestle has dropped its demand for $6 million from the famine-stricken Ethiopian government.

Nestle claimed the $6 million was owed by Ethiopia since the former regime lead by Haile Mengistu nationalized a livestock company owned by a Nestle subsidiary.

Ethiopia, in the middle of a ravaging famine that threatens millions of lives, had offered $1.5 million to cover the debt based on the assessed value of the company in 1975, the time of the nationalization. But Nestle rejected that amount, pushing for the value at the current rate of exchange between the dollar and the Ethiopian birr.

The World Bank, which had been negotiating on behalf of the Ethiopian government, reportedly expressed surprise at the hard line taken by the multinational which owns Nestle. "This $1m in our opinion is justifiable. But this is not the point of view of Nestle. They are trying to get as much as they can," said a World Bank spokesman in a published report.

Nestle had just about wriggled free from years of bad publicity over its aggressive marketing of babymilk formula in the developing world. In addition to baby formula, Nestle owns Perrier water, Haagan Dazs ice cream, Nescafe, dozens of candy bars, breakfast cereals and it recently acquired a majority stake in U.S.-based Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream.

Oxfam, a British aid agency, had condemned Nestle's stance, saying there was no justification for diverting Ethiopian Government money to a multinational which made profits of about $3.9 billion in the first six months of last year.

"This is a company that has said publicly that one of the things it wants to do in the world is to help make poor people better off. This is a company that is trying to squeeze out of one of the poorest countries in the world $6 million," said Oxfam's director of policy in the UK, Justin Forsyth.

After reviewing the harsh publicity it was receiving, Nestles chief executive, Peter Bradeck, agreed to accept the $1.6 million Ethiopia had offered to settle the case, adding that the sum would be donated to famine relief along with any other money from the final deal.

"We are not interested in taking money from Ethiopia when it is in such a desperate state of human need," said Bradeck. (Yah right, recanting ONLY after public criticism!)

Ethiopia, with average gross domestic product per person of just $100 a year, faces the prospect of its most serious famine since 1984 after drought caused widespread crop failures earlier this year.

With Nestle's claim off the table, the government still faces claims by other multinationals including another UK-based conglomerate reportedly asking for more than $20 million. According to a report by the BBC, up to 40 governments and individuals are making claims against the Ethiopian Government for money lost during the communist regime.

Another Journalist Giving His View

Left in the lurch

WHEN the regional sales manager, sporting the rank of vice president in a multinational company, engages in malpractice in the market, can the latter be held liable? Apparently not in the view of this giant European multinational company whose RSM in Central Luzon and her husband have allegedly duped six wholesalers or major distributors into losing millions in a clever discount scheme. The RSM had been doing great, surpassing the MNC’s sales targets for which Central Luzon bagged the “Best Area Award” in 2007 and 2008. Why she suddenly went missing in the third quarter of 2009 have been recently uncovered. It was discovered that the RSM had instructed distributors under her to give eight-percent to 12-percent discount to a particular client, it turned out connected to her husband. As the distributors themselves were entitled to only a four-percent discount, they stood to lose six-to-eight percent. So they balked but eventually agreed on the RSM’s written assurance — on MNC letterhead — of a refund. Thus, the serial bulk repeat orders for the MNC’s consumer products by the husband-favored customer who, it was soon found out, touted the same discount scheme to Metro Manila wholesalers — enabling them to undersell the MNC’s metropolitan distributors. Talk of a conjugal sting operation, Jose, not to mention that soon enough the checks issued by the husband-favored customer to Central Luzon distributors started to bounce and, worse yet, bounced right back to the missing RSM’s bank account. As even the most shrewdly plan of mouse and man, to paraphrase the adage, has gone woefully awry — the RSM-supervised and gypped CL distributors have had to desperately turn to the European MNC for restitution. No dice, Jose. Aside from token assistance to defray the legal fees, the MNC has abdicated its duty to be its RSM’s keeper, leaving the CL distributors in a lurch. The MNC is renowned for its virtually incalculable resources. Reports say that its 2008 profit from global operation is in the neighborhood of $16 billion. Its products, by the way, include coffee, milk (powder and liquid), coffee creamer, chocolate, ice cream, food and beverage. So, in the Yuletide spirit that hopefully also animates corporate social responsibility, I believe the situation isn’t as forlorn as it seems. A lawyer-friend, 42 years in corporate and criminal law practice, agrees that the MNC properly approached could be persuaded to feel bound by the acts of its missing rogue RSM. Indubitably, he says, the RSM’s dealings with the distributors in Central Luzon were for and in behalf of her employer, given the authority that the MNC has given her. Thus, in light of what has befallen the distributors, it might not have happened if the MNC had counter-checked its RSM’s conduct in the market. Why shouldn’t the MNC be liable for the distributors’ losses if due to its negligence? Paging the Department of Trade and Industry and Securities and Exchange Commission legal departments.

The Squishing of the Lowly Pinoy Entrepreneur by the Giant Multinational

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