Bank's Advice: Entrepreneurs Must Collude

In an interview with the newspaper "Biznes&Baltija", Andris Miernieks, senior economist at "SEB banka", urges all Latvian entrepreneurs to stop quarreling. "It is the time to stop quarrels and start cooperating," he said. "This can be done through forming clusters or in some other way, like by collusion, by building great big human pyramids, or maybe blindfolding each other and you don’t let the other guy bump into a wall. Cause quarreling gets you nowhere, man,” said Miernieks.
“But, collusion; that's the best method,” he said. “Look at SEB and Swedbank. We've found over time that following each other around in circles is a cost effective way to feign the competence we lack.” Miernieks explained that the bank hires people lacking initiative, and has them follow whatever is being done over at Swedbank. "And Swedbank does the same!" he said cheerily. “See, if other banks are doing the same thing you do, then business people will think whatever it is you’re doing you’re supposed to be doing, cause like the other guy's doing it too, you know? We call it the lemming strategy. It's simple, it's cheap, and it’s worked for us for years," he said. "Well, at least it did until recently."