Ray Williams Essay

HIH Insurance, the second-largest Insurance Company in Austria, was collapsed in 2001. Its founder, Ray Williams, had contributed many generous donors to medial research field by adding HIH money to his own contribution before the collapse. He gave a total of $20 millions corporate funds to several charities and Research Foundation, but the problem is that Williams did not notify and adequately inform all shareholders and the company about the donations, and there was often confusion about whether Williams or HIH was the donor.

Though William’s personal generosity was unquestionable, his largesse with corporate funds raised many ethical issues. Indeed, each shareholder’s right to know the company’s cash flow, right to know the source of funding,

With Williams’ uninformed donations using corporate fund, a smaller percentage of company’s earnings would be distributed to the shareholders and which is ridiculous as shareholders are losing their potential income under uninformed circumstances. Therefore, Williams should not use corporate funds to support medical research and development. However, from William’s perspective, his value is generosity, leading to his principles of being philanthropic and supporting many medical research and development. Corporate gift given to organization such as charity and foundation is considered philanthropic in nature, and “[it] is often quite significant in terms of its monetary value.” Williams’s personal funds possibly would not be sufficient to engage in such philanthropic activities without using the corporate

For example, ensuring that owners and shareholders do not withdraw corporate money for personal use and contributions to the society. Every stakeholder could only donate the corporate funds to engage in philanthropic activities with the consent of all parties in the company, either charity or Medical science research and development, in the name of corporate, and clarify that the corporation, HIH, is the donor. The owner of the company should also follow the separate entity assumption, meaning that private and corporation wealth are not equivalent, transactions of owners should not be recorded as that of the company, and “corporate responsibilities is [not] equate with the responsibilities assumed by generous individuals.” If so, shareholder’s value and principles may or may not be compromised depending on whether he consents to donate, their rights were being respected, and fairness and transparency would be reached. Williams’ value and principles could also be