Is It Time to Disband Big Corporations?

Big Corporations have been getting a well deserved kicking in the press recently. 

Firstly it was the might of Murdoch and his major companies, most notably News Corp, that was under the microscope. Now, it is the, up until now respected company that is the BBC that is also raising eyebrows with it's in house policies on staff behaviour.

We also saw Barclays Bank being admonished, and Bob Diamond stepping down over the Rate Fixing scandal. ( Sadly, those in the know believe Barclays was far from the only Bank taking part in this scam).

So, what have these companies and countless other's like them got in common?


They are all massive multi-national companies, with lots of staff, and lots of off shoots and departments. It would seem that, the bigger the company, the easier it is for the directors and owners to lose ultimate control.

According to the ever widening horror stories emerging from the Beeb, there were countless opportunities for different departmental managers to mention that certain employees were abusing their positions. However, it was easier to sweep it under the carpet and protect the "talent" than do anything to stop what was going on. According to some female employees, such as Liz Kershaw, it was almost laughed about in a "Boys Club" way, and, at one point Sandi Toksvig reports that she was asked "Don't you like it?" in a horrified way when she too reported inappropriate behaviour to her bosses. 

Then there is the murkey dealings of News Corp, who had celebrities followed by private detectives and who would, quite literally do anything for a story- including hacking Milly Dowler's phone (thus giving her parent's hope that she was still alive).  

Where were Rupert and James Murdoch when all this was going on? Well, they were not keeping an eye on their staff for one thing. They also own Fox amongst others, and their whole company is on such a massive scale it's hard to envisage how Murdoch could, feasibly have kept a full eye on who was doing what, when, and why.

So, in light of recent epic failings by the likes of these mammoth companies, is it time to see the regulation of companies? 

Is it time to put a limit on how many companies or offshoots one person can, ultimately, own or run?

Of course, in any company, it only takes one or two "weak links" for the whole operation to become another lawsuit waiting to happen- it took the death of Jimmy Saville (or So Vile as I've seen him rightfully referred to) to find out that for something like 30 or 40 years, rumors had spread like wildfire and bosses knew what was going on. However, because the BBC is such a big company- growing over the years from two channels and radio stations to incorporate internet, local and national stations, digital TV, HD and the World Service- it was relatively easy for it to be ignored as the company as a whole.

No one person can ultimately have responsibility for a company as it grows ever larger, so perhaps the Government needs to step in and run it with them- that way, earnings from that company could go towards the Countries empty bank balance.

What do you think? Is it time to end giant companies? Comments below!