From Superhero to Villain? The Case of an Exemplary MD (CEO)

Abstract

This is a case study based article. It is a small part of the author’s PhD study. While in-depth interviews were conducted, these are not utilized in this paper given the memorandum of agreement signed with the HR manager of the subject case study. Respecting this, this paper is based on relevant publicly available archival data of annual reports, business magazines, newspaper articles, and the case study staff newsletters. These past data relates much to the episode under investigation which is during the period the first CEO (at that time the title was Managing Director) held office at Post Fiji Limited. Not only is this entity one of the best performing government commercial companies in Fiji, it is also one of the very few profitable government owned postal operations worldwide. The paper details and analyses the leadership style of an exemplary MD who made significant changes during his time in office. The account however, ends on a surprising note which is – post the departure of this MD from the entity, the MD was alleged to be not as exemplary, having accepted payments not entitled to. The paper concludes that even when all looks well in a good performing government entity, there are gaps for supposed corruption at the highest levels. Nonetheless, hats off to those who conducted the audit in doing a good job in revealing all who engage in suspected corrupt practices which may remain undetected in successful entities if otherwise.

Keywords: Fiji, Public Enterprise, Post Fiji Limited, Leadership, Government Commercial Company, CEO, MD, Corruption