Wal-Mart: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

b. In your opinion, which organization has the greatest potential for bringing about positive change? Why?

In 1977, Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which makes it unlawful for U.S. businesspersons or companies to pay, with money or anything else of value, to foreign officials to secure beneficial contracts. The anti-bribery requirements of the FCPA have applied to all U.S. persons since 1977. In 1998, certain amendments were revised and the anti-bribery requirements now apply to foreign firms and persons who cause an act in continuance of bribery within the United States. The government was attempting to restricted illegal behavior, which is why they implemented the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after the SEC discovered that over 400 companies were sending corrupt payments to foreign government officials and

c. How might you adjust the assortments in your department to “pounce” on the misfortunes at Thomas & Blake? Be very specific.

People know and choose Wal-Mart because of its daily low prices. Wal-Mart sells its bargains every opportunity it gets, and convinces customers forgetting about everything except the low prices. Undoubtedly, Wal-Mart is one of the most successful corporations of all time. However, the tremendous success of Wal-Mart certainly comes with a correspondingly massive amount of responsibility. The strategy of low prices usually comes at a deadly unethical cost. Although some of its business practices such as “Low prices, always”, and helping in saving money are ethical, most of its business practices are unethical.

Walmart hurts local communities and drives out small businesses. “In the old days you actually support a family selling electronics or running a general store. But you can’t support a family working at Walmart. The vast majority of the jobs that Walmart create are very low paying. Large numbers of Walmart employees are on welfare, and this is part of the reason why we have seen an expansion in the number of the working poor in America.’-economyincrisis.org

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) evolved from investigations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor that provided evidence of illegal acts perpetrated by U.S. firms in foreign lands. More than 400 U.S. companies admitted to making questionable payments to various foreign governments and political parties as part of an amnesty program (U.S. Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov). Given the environment of the 1970s and the proliferation of white-collar crimes (e.g., insider trading, bribery, false financial statements, etc.), particularly the payments made to foreign officials by corporations, Congress felt obligated to introduce legislation that led to the act. Congress's objective was to restore confidence

The presenting team used the Walmart case as basis for the debate as it is relevant to the issue in question. In April 2012, the NYT reported that the Walmart management in Mexico paid bribes of $24 million and $16 million in “”donation” to Mexico local government to help expand the business there. In their debate that team chose to explore the possibility of expansion to China while debating the pros and cons of bribery/ “pay for play” in China in order to succeed there.

Walmart is a gigantic retailer with hundreds of stores throughout America. It purpose is to sell general goods at an extremely low price. This idea has made them loved by consumers and hated by other competing businesses for many reasons. The good about Walmart is that they can sell high quality products for extremely low which is good for the shoppers. Also since Walmart is such a big business, they are able to expand very easily and build one practically anywhere they feel necessary. Even though low prices at a retailer doesn’t sound bad, it can be for some other types of people. Walmart is a blessing and a curse for America. A blessing because of how easy it is too have access to its business and low prices, but a curse for struggling business

In the face of improper payments to officials abroad, the United States introduced the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. This act was a pioneer step for the government of the United States to combat illegal bribes by not only U.S. companies, but overseas companies as well. Other countries have now taken note and apply their own laws (1).

On February 16, 2016, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission released a statement announcing the settlement of a case concerning a technology company’s violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The software company PTC Inc. came under SEC investigation when it was discovered that two of its Chinese subsidiaries provided Chinese government officials with non-business related trips to places like Hawaii and Las Vegas, as well as improper gifts, including iPods, gift cards, and wine in order to win business. This act comes in direct violation with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits that all U.S. companies and their subsidiaries of bribing foreign officials in an effort to gain business opportunities (Clarkson, Miller, Cross 108). A case like this can play a significant role in the reputation of a company and how it is viewed not only on a domestic scale but an international scale as well. However, PTC’s responsible handling of the situation allowed the company to address and take care of the issue while maintaining

By taking such unethical decisions, Wal-Mart de Mexico violated laws from both Mexico and the U.S. Mexico has been known as a country where foreign companies have a significant risk for corruption. Bribery is common in many parts of the country, however, “attempted corruption, bribery, extortion, abuse of office, bribery of foreign public officials and facilitation payments are criminalized under Mexico’s Federal Penal Code” (Business Anti-Corruption Portal). As for the United States, the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), more specifically the Anti-bribery provision. This provision states “A company cannot corruptly make an offer, promise, or payment of anything of value to a foreign government official or politician

a. What should the management of Sports Products Inc. pursue as its overriding goal? Why?

The issue with Wal-Mart and globalization is that the company was making profits at the expense of not paying their workers proper wages. Their wages were not feasible to cover their workers’ health plans, and workers did not have any pensions or retirement plans to fall back on.

It has been reported that Wal-Mart has been aware of these allegations since 2005 according to US lawmakers in November of that year congressman noted an email

A. What are creative work environments? What does a manager need to do to develop and manage