Monday Jan 28 2019
Chainsaw Al Dunlap, famous for cost cutting, and then for other reasons, passed at age 81.
Dunlap claimed he had turned around and saved appliance maker Sunbeam. Two years later the Board fired him and Sunbeam was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and then sold to another company. Al over produced letting ending inventory grow and using GAAP, profits apparently increased. And he engaged in channel stuffing and other activities. He ended up paying substantial fines, like $15 M.
But Florida State has named entire facilities for Al Dunlap as he has donated money to the school.
What do you think of that as an ethical proposition? Would you name your campus facilities for someone who bankrupted a major company and then paid millions in fines? What message does that ethically send to your students? I am all for redemption in the religious sense but I never heard much redemption from Al, just an attempt to re make his image with generous donations. I mean really see excerpt below, the Dunlap Student Success Center??????????
Mr. Dunlap and his wife, Judy, became donors to FSU after he was invited to speak at its business school in the 1990s, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Funds donated by the couple have been used for such facilities as the Dunlap Student Success Center and the Albert J. Dunlap athletic training center.
Money talks — even at the wrong time!
Posted by: George Knox | January 30, 2019 at 10:25 AM