Abstract
members of the general board of a multinational corporation will not
be aware of what is happening on the shop floor in their affiliates in
other parts of the world, in particular when such actions have profound
potential moral and/or legal implications. This assumption of ‘corporate
ignorance’ is refuted by a case study documenting the information that
members of the general board of a Dutch multinational received about
crimes against humanity that were committed during the 1970s in
Argentina, and, more specifically, in and around their local affiliate
where workers were forcefully abducted and disappeared. In this historical
case, members of the general board appear to have been fully
aware of these crimes while knowingly ignoring and remaining indifferent
to the involvement of their local affiliate. In hindsight, the multinational
corporation
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Business History |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Feb 2019 |
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Keywords
- corporate involvement; crimes against humanity; enforced disappearance; military dictatorship; Argentina
Cite this
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To know or not to know : Silent complicity in crimes against humanity in Argentina (1976–1983). / de Haan, Willem.
In: Business History, 12.02.2019.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - To know or not to know
T2 - Silent complicity in crimes against humanity in Argentina (1976–1983)
AU - de Haan, Willem
PY - 2019/2/12
Y1 - 2019/2/12
N2 - The aim of this study is to challenge the widely-held assumption thatmembers of the general board of a multinational corporation will notbe aware of what is happening on the shop floor in their affiliates inother parts of the world, in particular when such actions have profoundpotential moral and/or legal implications. This assumption of ‘corporateignorance’ is refuted by a case study documenting the information thatmembers of the general board of a Dutch multinational received aboutcrimes against humanity that were committed during the 1970s inArgentina, and, more specifically, in and around their local affiliatewhere workers were forcefully abducted and disappeared. In this historicalcase, members of the general board appear to have been fullyaware of these crimes while knowingly ignoring and remaining indifferentto the involvement of their local affiliate. In hindsight, the multinationalcorporation
AB - The aim of this study is to challenge the widely-held assumption thatmembers of the general board of a multinational corporation will notbe aware of what is happening on the shop floor in their affiliates inother parts of the world, in particular when such actions have profoundpotential moral and/or legal implications. This assumption of ‘corporateignorance’ is refuted by a case study documenting the information thatmembers of the general board of a Dutch multinational received aboutcrimes against humanity that were committed during the 1970s inArgentina, and, more specifically, in and around their local affiliatewhere workers were forcefully abducted and disappeared. In this historicalcase, members of the general board appear to have been fullyaware of these crimes while knowingly ignoring and remaining indifferentto the involvement of their local affiliate. In hindsight, the multinationalcorporation
KW - corporate involvement; crimes against humanity; enforced disappearance; military dictatorship; Argentina
U2 - 10.1080/00076791.2018.1523393
DO - 10.1080/00076791.2018.1523393
M3 - Article
JO - Business History
JF - Business History
SN - 0007-6791
ER -