VW's supervisory board has co-determination, which means that Union of German workers has half the voting rights. The Supervisory board monitors and approves corporate statutes, and is appoints the members of the board of management.

Even with such a democratic (closer to atleast) approach if whistleblowers are salted, I don't have much hope that quasi-secretive exec cabals are going to be more open. Outside a few niche startups, that eventually ditch any 'don't be evil' anchors.

I don't buy the too big to be punished. If regulation agenencies can approve/deny a corporate merger/sale/etc, I think they should have the power to force change. Rarely, is it the rank and file employees causing the mischief. As the C-suite employees and possibly the board of directors, it is the job responibilities to be responsible. In these situations, why not have the regulators come in and force a leadership change? If one particular individual is more responsible than others, why not ban them from holding leadership positions in the future? Other industries have similar punishments. Allow the company to stay alive under new management.

Too big to punish is quite frankly just laughable.