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RB: we're delving into that messy area where theory and reality meet. Clearly economic theory can never account for the individual. Humans are, I'm sure you'll agree, messy little creatures that are impossible to accurately predict individually. In other words, individuals will act in their own perceived best interests and cast aside what is the greater good, whether that be for society or "the company". That as a part of my first part as well.
Why do firms fuck up the situation in country x when it is against their best interest? For the same reason that many people think the US invade Iraq - the guy in charge thought he had a score to settle.
No one has a crystal ball or a supercomputer capable of predicting all outcomes of a particular action - the butterfly effect still reigns supreme in the business world. I can tell you that from my point of view as someone who views himself as a success in business, I can tell you that every success that I have comes because of personalities. The same is true of some of the biggest companies in the world. Hank Greenberg, who ran AIG until fairly recently, cut deals over dinner and drinks and left the details to be worked out by the lawyers or underwriters.
As far as individuals go, I'm sure the people at Unocal shared a large part of the blame for Nigeria's problems. However, they're not the only ones. The Nigerian government was and is full of folks who enriched themselves quite a bit at Unocal's teat and managed to create their own domestic policy.
Which leads us back to the question of pure government-funded research. That's something that I completely object to, for that reason above.
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