KINIBIZ Tiger understands the need to be wily and intelligent, in fact while Tiger is generally strong enough to rule over all the other animals of the jungle by sheer force, she finds it is less tiring if she uses her smarts to get her way instead. For example, when stalking its favourite Sang Kancil meal, Tiger much prefers to lie in wait, till the poor creature isolates itself, rather than chase it all around the jungle.

So Tiger knows that it is not just the strong, but also the smart that survive, and in that way, the corporate jungle is quite similar to the real one, as there too, it is the intelligent humans that succeed. Unfortunately, unlike Tiger and the other jungle inhabitants who use our smarts just to feed and protect ourselves, those in the corporate world sometimes tend to use their intelligence to grow their riches through less than honourable means.

It is perhaps for that reason the corporate jungle has these regulatory and statutory bodies, after all someone needs to keep an eye on these corporate bigwigs who always seem to be thinking up creative ways to make a few extra... million bucks.

Now of course, Tiger understands that not noble is by no means the same as illegal, and if being totally honest, there is a small amount of admiration at some of the ingenious little ways in which some of them get around all the regulations.

azlanA popular place for all kinds of shenanigans seems to be the stock market, which despite Bursa Malaysia and the Securities Commission regulations is still susceptible to all sorts of perfectly legal manipulation.

Listings, stocks, derivatives and warrants are all components of a sometimes rather confusing financial arena for Tiger, but they are quite popular financial instruments among business people and investors, as many see it as an opportunity to achieve some sort of financial gains.

As Tiger understands it, the point of the stock market is to allow a company to get the necessary equity it needs to expand and grow a promising business, to allow a company to reward its staff, directors and allow initial shareholders to realise some of their early investments.

The trade-off is that the money comes from outside investors who are given the opportunity to pour their money into companies they see as promising, which results in the original owners or directors losing some of their decision-making authority over company matters.

The stock market functions on the important premise that any investor should have equal access to investing in any company that is to be listed, so long as they have the necessary funds to do so. Furthermore, once they have invested in the company they must be fairly treated and given a voice in the company’s decision making process.

Go to KiniBiz for more.

This article was written by Stephanie Jacob.