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Full-Text Articles in Law
Gaming Delaware, William W. Bratton
Gaming Delaware, William W. Bratton
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Back in 2000, at the World Trade Center in Portland, Oregon, Time Belden and other Enron electricity traders carefully studied the regulations governing California's new electricity market. Belden thought that the complex rules were "prone to gaming." And game them he did. Under one strategy, Enron filed imaginary transmission schedules, creating nonexistent congestion, so as to draw on the rules' provision of payment to alleviate congestion. They called it "Death Star." Then there was "Ricochet," or megawatt laundering, under which Enron circumvented price caps by exporting power out of California, only to bring the power back later, when the State, …
Enron And The Dark Side Of Shareholder Value, William W. Bratton
Enron And The Dark Side Of Shareholder Value, William W. Bratton
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
This Article addresses the implications that the Enron collapse holds out for the self-regulatory system of corporate governance. The case shows that the incentive structure that motivates actors in the system generates much less powerful checks against abuse than many observers have believed. Even as academics have proclaimed rising governance standards, some standards have declined, particularly those addressed to the numerology of shareholder value. The Article's inquiry begins with Enron's business plan. The Article asserts that there may be more to Enron's "virtual firm" strategy than meets the eye beholding a firm in collapse. The Article restates the strategy as …
The Organizational Psychology Of Hyper-Competition: Corporate Irresponsibility And The Lessons Of Enron, Donald C. Langevoort
The Organizational Psychology Of Hyper-Competition: Corporate Irresponsibility And The Lessons Of Enron, Donald C. Langevoort
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
What I want to do here is first explain my fears and then explore the Enron story from the standpoint of both social psychology and organizational behavior. My sense going in, at least, is that the social forces and selfish norms that emerge fairly naturally in highly competitive settings such as these dominate as behavioral influences over anything but high-powered legal controls. The kind of firm that I want to concentrate on is the "new economy" sort that requires a high rate of creative productivity from a large number of key managers and employees. Thus, I will put to the …