Enron And The Gas Pipeline Industry

Before going into an analysis on the organizational culture at Enron, I will first elaborate on the severity of the unethical behavior that existed at Enron. The problem can best be shown in the words of an Enron employee who said “If I’m going to my boss’s office to talk about compensation, and if I step on some guy’s throat and that doubles it, then I’ll stomp on that guy’s throat”(Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). This culture of greed and corruption can also be seen through Enron’s mark to market accounting system, in which Enron cashed in on ideas and “future profits” without actually making anything. Furthermore,

Enron, an energy trading supply company, founded in 1985 was the product of a merger between the Houston Natural Gas Company and InterNorth Incorporated. Enron was able to flourish as a result of the Dotcom Bubble, a rapid rise in equity markets caused by investments in internet-based companies in the 1990s. Hoping to wreak more revenue through additional utilization of internet-based strategies, Enron created EOL, Enron Online, a computerized trading website. By the early 2000s, EOL was generating approximately $350 billion in trades. EOL’s success fueled Enron’s ambitions to create a broadband telecommunication network worth hundreds of millions of dollars. However, unlike EOL, this costly telecommunication network yielded minimal profits. Devastatingly, the financial blow was accentuated by the emergence of the Great Recession.

Enron, the natural gas provider turned trader of natural gas commodities and in 1994, electric, was once touted as the seventh largest company in America. Kenneth Lay, founder, began changing Enron from just a provider into a financial energy powerhouse. Lay took advantage of the dot-com boom of the late 1990’s by creating Enron Online, an internet trading platform. Internet stocks were valued at astronomical prices and were all the rage on wall street, who accepted the increasing prices as normal (Investopedia). On December 2, 2001 Enron declared chapter 11 bankruptcy, resulting in the loss of twenty thousand jobs and billions of investor and creditor dollars. Enron, once designated as "America 's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune for six years consecutively, enacted massive financial fraud at the fault of its top level executives: Kenneth Lay, Jeffery Skilling, and Andrew Fastow.

The entire downfall of the giant Enron was brought about due to various ethical lapses that, in the end, would muddy the reputation of anyone who had a connection with the company. Even according to Gibney (2005), it was widely known that Enron’s CFO Andy Fastow would tend to implement and use less than ethical financial practices. The unethical behavior, though, does not usually just occur with one person or one position. Gibney (2005), throughout the entire documentary, hints at the idea that all Enron management/leadership knew of and were complicit in the unethical practices. In the end, Enron had betrayed the trust of thousands of employees and investors. Both of these betrayed parties would try to seek some level of justice in what had become one of America’s worst economic blunders (Gibney, 2005).

Enron was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InnerNorth of Omaha. During this time period there was a series of deregulations in the utilities industry which was highly regulated at the time. Enron original business was selling natural gas. Jeff Skilling developed the idea of a “gas bank” which was the middlemen for consumers and suppliers.

After years of appearing to be growing financially, Enron was on top of the world. By the end of the 1990’s Enron was named Fortune’s, “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” and “America’s Most Innovative Company”, six years in a row. Little did the public

The Enron Corporation was founded in 1985 when Houston Natural Gas merged with InterNorth, a Nebraska based Company. For six consecutive years thereafter, Enron carried the title of ‘Americas Most Innovative company’ (Folger). The reason Enron was regarded as so innovative is that the company completely changed the way the energy industry was run. In 1987, Enron’s CEO Kenneth Lay hired Jeffrey Skilling as a consultant to completely change the business strategy that the company was run on. At that point, the company started taking advantage of the fact that the energy industry was deregulated and “…created a ‘gas bank’ in which Enron would buy gas from a network of suppliers and sell it to a network of consumers, contractually guaranteeing both the supply and the price, charging fees for the transactions and assuming the associated risks”

Numerous factors impacting Enron lead to perceived solutions exacerbating the issues and escalating the magnitude of fraud perpetuated. As time progressed Enron faced increasing competition while simultaneously enduring the effects of the beginning of economic recession. The above issue increased the pressure on executives to continue posting performance numbers despite the reality of outside

Enron fires 20,000 employees and billions of investors’ money is gone almost overnight. Enron, an American energy, commodities and services company based out of Houston, Texas files for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001. Founded in 1985, Enron merged with Houston’s Natural Gas and InterNorth, which all were relatively regional companies in the United States (Forbes, 2013). They purchased large quantities of natural gas at a discounted rate then distributed it though its own pipeline system to wholesale customers like power companies (Forbes, 2013). Because of their witty business decisions, Enron helped transform the natural gas market and all the while, capturing huge profits for themselves. Over time, Enron had inflated its earnings by hiding debts and losses in subsidiary partnerships like energy trading, power generation, water, and retail electricity.

Sherron Watkins, a former Enron Vice President who was hailed as an “internal whistleblower”, said in an interview that Enron’s ambitious goals inflated many egos at the company. The mission statement went through several changes, but in 1995, its mission “to become the world’s leading energy company” “indicated a great deal of arrogance” says Watkins. In 2001, Enron’s mission statement was changed “to become the world’s leading company.” This rise in arrogance came from the company’s leadership, which would ultimately show evidence of fraud.

The organizational structure of Enron was a calculated one with a clique that was thought as being the “smartest” guiding the rest of the workers. It included Kenneth Lay: Chairman, and Chief executive officer, Jeffrey Skilling: President, Chief operating officer, and CEO (February–August 2001), and Andrew Fastow: Chief financial officer. With the leaders known to be wise and smart, the workers and traders believed in them. They did what was asked of them by the employers. The clique ensured money was not an issue for the workers and subsidies were allocated to them at will. This in itself encouraged the workers to be hardworking and yet

This paper will discuss the business failure of one of the largest energy companies in the world, Enron Corporation. I will discuss the leadership, management, and organizational structure of the company and how this failure could have been prevented.

Enron was an admired company prior to 2000 because at that time it surfaced as a frontrunner in the deregulated energy market, making it possible to sell energy at higher prices, thus significantly increasing its revenue. The company, through efficient management team, has built leading businesses in energy trading and international energy asset construction. The company has managed to maintain high return from its investments through ideal placement of resources by creating long term and fixed price contracts with clients that guaranteed stable

Enron failed largely due to the unethical practices of its executives (Johnson, 2003) Primary motivators is known to have been greed amongst managers and their subordinates, most of whom seemed to have been in a race to receive larger

The story of Enron begins in 1985, with the merger of two pipeline companies, orchestrated by a man named Kenneth L. Lay (1). In its 15 years of existence, Enron expanded its operations to provide products and services in the areas of electricity, natural gas as well as communications (9). Through its diversification, Enron would become known as a corporate America darling (9) and Fortune Magazine’s most innovative company for 5 years in a row (10). They reported extraordinary profits in a short amount of time. For example, in 1998 Enron shares were valued at a little over $20, while in mid-2000, those same shares were valued at just over $90 (10), the all-time high during the company’s existence (9).