Day 145 - 29 Jun 95 - Page 48


     
     1        have to have buildings to store all these papers in?
     2        A.  I am telling you that if you allow paperwork to bury
     3        you -- paperwork will bury you with the volume of it and
     4        you just do not want all of that paperwork.  You do drafts
     5        of things that you are thinking of announcing as a policy,
     6        you may circulate those drafts and get opinions, but you do
     7        not keep reams of discussions and what you have.  That is
     8        not the way we operate.
     9
    10   Q.   No, but you would keep the kind of final conversation or
    11        whatever that came up to the decision?
    12        A.  No.  No.
    13
    14   Q.   And the reasons for that decision?
    15        A.  No, absolutely not.
    16
    17   Q.   Is that because you do not want any outside organisation to
    18        find out?
    19        A.  Absolutely not.  I will leave it there.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  Can you think of any documents more useful to keep
    22        than records of meetings where policies are decided and
    23        evaluated and reports are given, as far as providing a
    24        record of the McDonald's Corporation ----
    25        A.  Sir, I am telling you ----
    26
    27   Q.   --- for people to be able to look back and say, "This is
    28        what happened at that time"?
    29        A.  The only thing I would keep are things I think would be
    30        useful to me in the future.  You do not keep records of
    31        discussions.  We would spend all of our time dictating
    32        these things, having them typed by a secretary.  We do not
    33        need those kinds of things.
    34
    35   Q.   I did not ask for transcripts.  I am talking about ----
    36        A.  You do not do business in a transcript fashion.
    37
    38   Q.   I am not asking about transcripts.  I am talking about
    39        records of a meeting, who was present, what was on the
    40        agenda and the decisions that were made.  That would be an
    41        extremely useful thing to keep to look back on to know what
    42        the situation was at the time, would it not?
    43        A.  I have never lacked for information if I needed it to
    44        make a current decision.  I have never lacked for that.  As
    45        I mentioned to you, we have a great deal of longevity in
    46        the Company.  If I need to get my recollection on something
    47        that generally does not happen that often there are lots of
    48        contemporaries who have been around a long time whom
    49        I consult with and do consult with.
    50 
    51   Q.   In your department, Human Resources, can you think of any 
    52        minutes or records of the kind we are talking about of 
    53        meetings where policies are discussed and decided or
    54        reviewed, where those records will have been kept going
    55        back a number of years?
    56        A.  The short answer is, no.  There are not that many
    57        policies at McDonald's.  You seem to think that every day
    58        we make a policy decision.  It does not work that way.
    59        There are very few policies.  There are a lot of guidelines
    60        but there are few policies at McDonald's.  We believe in a

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