Given recent studies about the economic costs of ethical behavior, I think you could make a pretty ironclad case that criminals are more likely to generate profit for the company under current conditions than ethical 'good' people would.
As such, the larger the company and the more capital it's responsible for, the MORE necessary it becomes to the company to find the most evil, biggest most psychopathic criminal to guide it, given that profit is the only measurable feature and the only thing that concerns the company in any way.
It's just the system. This is what you get, and betting against it is like betting against the tide. They do in fact have to be competitive about hiring bigger criminals because failing to do so can be fatal to the company, when it's set against other companies with no such compunctions.
So in other words, the law fails us once again. If we had serious criminal penalties for taking bribes (and other executive "white collar" crimes) this wouldn't be the case. Since we can't and won't implement reasonable criminal justice policies in the US, how about a mandatory minimum of 10 (or 20, who's counting at this point?) years in jail for any executive taking a bribe without the possibility of parole? For every violation. And three strikes, you're out. I guarantee you'd see a change quickly. Or, at least, more rich white men in prison. And some would go in for life from the start (3 strikes). It goes without saying that upon such a conviction, all assets would be seized and these people would not be allowed even a dollar to go towards their lawyers. Just in case you had thoughts they'd get off because of high-priced lawyers ... And just to top it all off, when you can't prove the case against the executive who took bribes, you throw his wife in jail for 20-30 years because she doesn't know what's going on and can't rat out the higher ups.
As such, the larger the company and the more capital it's responsible for, the MORE necessary it becomes to the company to find the most evil, biggest most psychopathic criminal to guide it, given that profit is the only measurable feature and the only thing that concerns the company in any way.
It's just the system. This is what you get, and betting against it is like betting against the tide. They do in fact have to be competitive about hiring bigger criminals because failing to do so can be fatal to the company, when it's set against other companies with no such compunctions.