Bribery

Chapter Three, entitled Bribes and Threats, from Beyond Discipline discussed many different tools such as coercion, punishment, and rewards being used for disciplining. These specific tools are counterintuitive and result in temporary compliance or even sometimes extreme behaviors. Because of these tools being used, it leads to disastrous outcomes and makes the teachers and schools uninviting and unproductive.

This case portrays the widely propagated and accepted phenomena of bribes and corruption in developing countries. Specifically how it affects every sector of the Ukrainian society, therefore making it difficult for the American investors to establish companies there and to prosper solely on doing good business. The case describes the types of obstacles and ethical dilemmas being created for the investors as a result of bribery and extortion.

OECD published Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and Related Documents to prevent bribery and corruption. The aim of this convention was making the bribery of a foreign public official a crime under their laws (International Monetary Fund, OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, 2001). This document recommends to member countries that:

Pay off does not appear to be all that exceptional in business, particularly when governmental issues are included. The social elements certainly likewise appear to assume a part in whether a demonstration is considered renumeration. There are numerous nations, for example, Afghanistan, where a tribal pioneer can acknowledge a blessing to discard a case especially. It is not viewed as a pay off the way it would be in America, since it is viewed as a type of installment for the tribal pioneer doing their obligation. In American however, tolerating certain "endowments" can prompt inconvenience.

Bribery weakens competition and diminishes free trade which can affect companies, shareholders, and stakeholders. Jacob Franklin knowingly extended bribes to governments and contractors while knowing it was against company policy. Jacob engaged in bribery even though he knew it was wrong because he was advised that it was common practice at Richard Drilling. “In 1977, President Carter signed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The law made it illegal to bribe foreign officials. The maximum punishments for violators were set at $100,000 and 5 years in jail. Companies can be fined millions” (Bredeson, 2012, p.301). Not only was extending the bribe against company policy, it was against law and could cost Jacob and Richardson Drilling money and freedom.

The largest impact internationally has been the result of the awareness of the FCPA. Since the U.S. government enacted the FCPA, it has raised awareness in foreign countries, many of which have enforced their own anti-bribery laws and have also signed on to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention to show their commitment to the regulations of the anti-bribery laws. The OECD actually has no authority to enforce legislation and relies on the member countries to regulate the anti-bribery law. Foreign companies who are associated with U.S. markets and foreign government officials are now aware of the consequences of violating the FCPA.

Discuss what people are willing to do for money. Why did the White Sox players accept bribes? How does this scandal compare to the reason Voldyrev had to bribe the clerk? How are the individuals in the two texts disadvantaged by engaging in bribery?

(Wells, 2011, p. 241). Bribery can come in many different forms but generally is defined as an act in which something of value is offered, given, received or solicited with the intent of influencing an official act. Illegal gratuities can be similar to bribes except these are usually given as a reward. Economic extortion is basically the demanding of money. “A conflict of interest occurs when an employee, manager, or executive has an undisclosed economic or personal interest in a transaction that adversely affects the organization.” (Wells, 2011, p. 242). These are not all corruption schemes that exist but have been determined to be more common than others and ones that should definitely be watched for when completing an audit or a full financial status review.

Political corruption was another common and favorable tactic amongst business owners. To prevent business-harming laws from being legalized or to pass beneficial laws, businessmen often bribed politicians “at the local, state, and national level”.[7] Politicians were given company stock, funds for elections, and free or reduced materials. Today historians most commonly associate the railroad industry with political corruption. To gain their business favor, railroad companies would offer free passage to

What should Pignatelli do? What would you do and why? In this situation, Pignatelli should go with his second option: asking his more influential partners to pressure government officials to quickly grant the two needed permissions. If his partners are unsuccessful then he should play it straight and try to gain government authorization. This is his best option because it is much less threatening to his company and personal reputation than committing bribes would be. Even though playing it straight would likely take several months and possibly years before the government authorizations could be obtained, it is still the best, and most ethical, option

It would be convenient to start this research paper by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for businesses in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current affliction of the economy in the United States. It would also be convenient to claim corruption has declined in America as a result of awareness raising campaigns and the numerous anti-corruption laws. But none of those aforementioned statements would be true. Corruption is not the exception, but rather the rule in today’s business practices. In 2004, Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former director at the World Bank, calculated an index of "legally corrupt" manifestations which is defined as the extent of undue influence

Bribery can be defined as when one is offered money or some other incentive with the intention to corrupt a person’s actions.¬ Bribery is the main component, if not the basis, of government corruption.

Mr. Chong knows about recent cases of corporate bribery in Malaysia and in the retail industry. There had been scandals regarding foreign investors who bribed public officials or financed government programs to obtain business privileges or competitive advantage (Inkpen, 2010). Moreover, there was a recent case of bribery involving a Jextra’s country manager in the Philippines. More likely, this manager also encountered similar ethical dilemmas like Mr. Chong. Some individual factors that may have driven him to act unethically in the Philippines could have been pressure from the company to expand and gain competitive advantage in the region. Alternatively, he might have simply wanted to advance his career as a country manager, lacked of ethics or did not know the local laws regarding bribery. Additionally, he might not have received or requested support from the top management regarding the social and ethical issues raised in the Philippines. Mr. Chong, as an experienced manager, should have anticipated that he would encounter legal and ethical risks in Malaysia.

Since the phenomenon of globalization, companies that decided to broaden their horizons have to face multiple challenges and their management functions need some adaptations. While going abroad, companies may become concerned with the subject of corruption that makes the business with foreign countries even more complicated. Even if there is a willingness to fight and reduce the corruption across the world, companies must be aware that this subject exists and must take it into account while dealing with foreign companies, their efforts to understand and adapt to local corruption influencing their success of

This does not set a good example for the employees and can be harmful to the future of the company. Ensuring that bribery stops can solve many of the problems discussed above. Some feasible solutions are being recommended to help the company in both short term and long term. First of all, all employees including managers should be given training and education about bribery, corruption and what’s deemed illegal according to the law. Explicit measures should be suggested on how they can avoid supporting corruption and also where they can report to in case a situation where dishonesty is involved arises.