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Case Study

Corruption at Siemens (A)

By Stewart Hamilton and Anna Eckardt

18 pages

December 2008

Reference: IMD-1-0278

In November 2006, 200 German policemen and prosecutors raided 30 offices and homes of Siemens managers to investigate allegations of embezzlement at Siemens’ fixed-line phone unit. In the wake of internal investigations started at the end of 2006, Siemens finally admitted to having identified dubious payments amounting to €1.3 billion from the years 1999 to 2006. As a result, Siemens replaced all but one of its managing board members. At the end of July 2008, a former sales manager at Siemens’ telecoms division, was convicted for his role in setting up the slush funds used to win contracts. The same day, the supervisory board approved the recommendations a well-known law firm to sue almost all executive committee members in charge between 2003 and 2006.

Learning Objective

To introduce students to the issues surrounding corruption in international business.

Keywords

Ethics, Corruption, International Business, Conglomerate

Settings

Europe, Germany
Siemens, Manufacturing, Electric and Electronic Equipment
2006-2008

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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2010 "DARK SIDE IX" FINALIST (AoM CMS Case Writing Competition)

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This case study is part of a series

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