Let's Not Forget About Antitrust Compliance
With so much focus on topics such as corruption, there are other areas of concern that can lead up or even work along side the corruption problem. With increased competition in a global market, companies have been able to find ways to work together in a closed-door fashion. The problem here lays on the mistreatment of consumers when companies band together to sell their services or products at an “agreed” rate. Consumers benefit with free market and open competition, as this would lead to better products, better service, and lower prices. When competitors agree to fix prices, rig bids, or allocate customer or sales territories, the result leads to mush higher prices for goods and services. Although corruption is a growing issue for global brands in global markets, anti-trust issues can create a corruption like atmosphere as competitors find ways to work with each other while still generating large amounts of profit. In the an article written by Richard Cassin “Don’t Forget Antitrust Enforcement” he explains, although corruption is a hot button issue for many companies and government agencies around the world, antitrust still remains a problem. The DOJ just announced the total dollar amount collected from 2014, and it has reported have collected $1.86 billion in criminal fines and penalties. Reporting a statistic such as this could only mean one thing; antitrust compliance is still a big need in global business.
“The size of these penalties is an unfortunate reminder of the powerful temptation to cheat the American consumer and profit from collusion,”
As the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice continue their crack down on corruption, antitrust will also continue to be a focus with companies thinking they can take advantage of the consumer. DOJ antitrust division Chief Bill Baer:
“We remain committed to ensuring that corporations and individuals who collude face serious consequences for their crimes.”
On going investigations will lead to more fines with higher dollar amounts. Which leads us to believe that issues like these will not only be looked at, but they will highly investigated in order to keep antitrust and corruption away from global markets. Addressing the risk, managing potential threats, and creating solutions for the modern world are key points that will assist any company trying to avoid this problem. Click here for more information.
