In 1906, a definition of the corporation submitted
by Ambrose Bierce in his Devil’s Dictionary, noted
that a corporation is ‘‘an ingenious device for
obtaining individual profit without individual
responsibility’’ (Bierce, 1906, reprint 1993). Consider
however, how astonished Bierce would be in
light of recent and often successful claims of individual
liability on the part of corporate leadership in
some American and European firms. Beyond that
liability assessed against individual decision-makers
(or for the prominent lack of decisions, in some
circumstances), there is a growing trend toward
holding corporations responsible as corporations for
their impact on the social fabric of the systems in
which they conduct their business.