By now some of have heard that Siemens has been fined $1.34 Billion to settle cases of global bribery. Yet Siemens somehow was able to avoid both a guilty plea or a conviction for bribery, enabling the company to maintain its status as a "responsible contractor" with the United States Defense Logistics Agency. As a "responsible contractor", Siemens is able to bid for public procurement contracts in the United States and elsewhere.

Oh hunky dory; global bribery plus a fine equals business as usual.

Imagine if this had been a case of recruiters who were caught rusing to garner the names of prized employees. There would be a big fine - and a few "I told you so" blog posts - but then it would be back to business as usual. Perhaps a few companies would elect not to do business with these evil recruiter do'ers but I suspect that just like hackers whose techniques were blocked by new security software will find new ways to get inside, recruiters will find new ways to get passed the gatekeepers.

Global statutes and huge fines won't stop the next Siemens from doing what it believed it had to do to be competitive. The best solution I can see is for US citizens to write their DC electees and say no to Siemens. Just like cash is King, the customer is always the ultimate control point.

Just as in recruiting.