Honesty in Business
Thank you for listening to Spotlight.
I'm Anne Rajoo. And I'm Peter Laverock. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live. Today we tell a story of big business -- millions of dollars -- and the morals of the men at the top.
In Malaysia, there is a big company called the 'Y T L Corporation'. It makes so many different things that it would take all the time we have on Spotlight to read them out! But the main things are electricity, building projects, hotels and transport. Y T L built the railway that links Malaysia's capital city to its airport. Y T L is one of the largest private companies in Malaysia.
In the past few years YTL has started to invest in other countries. It has bought companies in Australia and Britain. YTL saw a good chance to buy a water company in England. The company was on the market because of difficult times for its owner, Enron. This was back in the year two thousand and two [2002]. (The fall of the Enron company is another story. )
YTL bought Wessex Water for more than one thousand million dollars. Other companies also wanted to buy Wessex Water, companies from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Italy. But YTL offered the highest price. The purchase was a surprise, first because very few people in the United Kingdom knew about YTL. But it was also a surprise for another reason.
Not long after the purchase, the City of London police arrested the former manager of Wessex Water. The police accused him of receiving more than a million dollars from the Malaysian company. The police were sure about the money. The manager of Wessex Water had some explaining to do!
The manager said that he could explain everything. First, he said he had no power to force the owners of the company to sell to YTL, even if he wanted to. He told the police that he did not receive the million dollars until after the company was sold. The money was for him to work as an adviser to YTL. It was not a payment for helping the Malaysian company to purchase Wessex Water.
The police spent six months looking at company documents. They also got information from the banks which moved the money across the world. Finally, the authorities decided that there had been no crime. They dropped all the charges against the manager of Wessex Water.
It is unusual for the British police to arrest such an important business man. The story tells us that the authorities wanted to be sure that business is honest. The owners of a company, or shareholders, deserve to know that managers are giving an honest opinion. The authorities wanted to know that the men who negotiated the selling of Wessex Water were telling the truth.
In Malaysia, YTL were unhappy about the police investigation. YTL said they had done nothing wrong. To employ an adviser is a normal thing. YTL needed some help to run the Wessex Water company. Who better to give that help, than the man who was the manager before the purchase? His help was worth a lot of money to YTL - remember, they offered him more than one million dollars. And the most important thing was that they did not make the offer until two months after they bought Wessex Water.
That is the end of the story of the police investigation. There was no trial and no-one went to jail. No one now disputes the selling of Wessex Water to YTL.
The chief officer of YTL is Francis Yeoh. Mr Yeoh is a Malaysian of Chinese origin - and a Christian. He says prayers before a meal - even a business meal. Mr Yeoh gives Jesus Christ the credit for guiding him to succeed in business. Francis Yeoh became a Christian in nineteen-seventy-one [1971]. He says it has helped him to avoid what the Chinese call the "third-generation effect". Many Chinese families think that a grandson will waste the family wealth made by his grandfather. But for YTL, the "third generation effect" has not happened. The YTL business theory is to make the highest quality products at third world prices. Profits have grown by fifty-five percent every year for the past fifteen years. Mr Yeoh uses some of his money to share his love of singing. He likes to invite his business friends to hear the music of famous singers - singers such as the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
[Excerpt from La Boheme opera by Puccini]
Mr Yeoh is against any cheating in business. He told the American business magazine 'Fortune' that he thought it would be 'stupid' to risk the trust of the ten million people around the world who buy his services. Let us think more about the importance of honesty in business. Here is David Bast.
When Francis Yeoh said that cheating would be 'stupid', he was using a very strong word. Is cheating stupid? Well, it is if the police discover what you have done. You will go to prison for a long time! But people of faith believe that it is also stupid to cheat because God will discover what you have done.
For example, around the world there are groups of Christians in business who meet to talk about the work they do. They do not say that making a profit is wrong - but that dishonesty will lead to trouble. These Christians in business try to support each other. They meet to talk about the market, to discuss what is a fair price, and how to balance the pressures of work and family life. There are no easy answers.
Even in the case of the Malaysian business, YTL, and Wessex Water, opinion remains divided. What do you think about this?
Well, it may have been a problem between two cultures -- the British and the Malaysian. A business method in one country may not be welcomed in another. It may have been that YTL made enemies. The man who loses a race does not like the man who wins. Both have worked hard, but only one gets the prize. People - and companies - compete in business; some win and some lose. That is how it is.
Today's writer was Peter Laverock. The voices you heard were from The United Kingdom, Malaysia and the United States of America. Computer users can hear these programs, read our scripts and see our wordbook on our website at www.radio.english.net. This program is called 'Honesty in Business. ' We love to hear comments and questions from our listeners. Our email address is radio@english.net. Spotlight wishes you good business and a good honest profit! From all of us, goodbye.
