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Principles of personal responsibilities and working in a business environment 201 TC2-1 2 4 32 31/12/2013

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.

Petrenko. A. Employee responsibility [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: https://moodle.yorku.ca/moodle/course/view.php

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.

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

However, they are also its greatest risk. Additional surveillance over employees is essential when it comes to engaging in risky activities. BHP Billiton’s employees did not receive proper training. Training is a preventive control to combat high-level inherent risk activities such as bribery. Employees should be well-versed in company policy because their actions may incur liability under the FCPA (U.S. Department of Justice et al., 2012). The hospitality applications in the BHP case highlight this issue. BHP Billiton’s failure to properly account for these applications helped facilitate a bribery scheme. As a consequence, the company faced repercussions in the form of a large monetary fine and mandatory anti-corruption training (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,

Anyone found guilty of knowingly participating in or authorizing the payment of a bribe can be high penalized under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. United States publicly traded companies have been liable to the FCPA since 1977. The anti-bribery provision of the act makes it unlawful to bribe even a penny because the act focuses on the intent to bribe, rather than the materiality of it ‘’the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA make it unlawful for a U.S. person, and certain foreign issuers of securities, to make a payment to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person. Since 1998, they also apply to foreign firms and persons who take any act in furtherance of such a corrupt payment while in the United States” From the research I conducted, many executives in the United States feel that the stipulations within the

 In regard to corruption and bribery by U.S. companies and their agents conducting business overseas, the State Department claims that the U.S. “has been a leader in the multinational effort to end bribery and corruption in international practices, a campaign... supported by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and other multilateral organizations and institutions” (U.S. Dept. of State). This statement clearly demonstrates that the need to address and deter corruption and bribery in the international business environment is recognized as an important initiative, worth pursuing and requiring the cooperation of many nations. Even though it took the U.S. nearly ten years to bring thirty-three countries on board to take part in a multinational anti-bribery initiative, they did so by signing the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (US Dept. of Justice, Lay-Person’s Guide).

It is very important to be aware of the potential corruption schemes within the company. The most common form of corruption that can occur within the organization is bribery where the vendors are bribed to get business. This scheme involves exchange of value to get a contract or secure a project. The illegal payments can be made to maintain business relationships. One of the widely known corruption schemes is a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest is usually occurs when a company or an employee is involved in multiple interests that can corrupts the motivation for in act in others.  Extortion is another type of corruption which can occur in any company. In this scheme, a vendor is ordering to make a payment for

Year 2011 UK Bribery Act of 2010 leads many organisations to re-evaluate their anti-corruption program, even do companies that have general policies and procedures to comply with the UK Bribery Act [Kenneth Clarke. (2011)]. This Act not only covers bribery of UK government officials but it also cover

Vendor corruption schemes can occur if an employee of a company has an “inappropriate relationship with a vendor involving bribes, gratuities, conflicts of interest, or extortion” (Mansfield, 2017). A common form of corruption that cannot be easily traced through a paper trail occurs in the form of kickbacks, or bribes. A kickback can occur immediately after a contract is signed as well as throughout the time the two companies are doing business. If an employee in a company awards a contract to a vendor that is not offering the most favorable conditions for their company, a kickback in the form of a monetary or non-monetary gifts may be occurring. This vendor may be charging a higher cost, providing poorer quality materials, or even charging without proving services. Yet the vendor secures the contract by unethically influencing the purchasing decisions of the company by offering an individual within the company some form of personal payment. After the contract is signed the vendor may submit invoices for goods and services that they do not intend to complete. The internal employee approves the invoices, pays the vendor, and the vendor gives that employee money or gifts as a kickback.

Kwok and Tadesse suggest the regulatory pressure effect, demonstration effect, and the professionalization effect. Corruption exists in local governments in less developed countries across the globe, a circumstance that is extremely difficult to prevent. Since it is normal business practice for local businesses to engage in corrupt activity, it is difficult for them to refrain from doing so, since it is common practice. Most MNCs are unwilling to accept bribes in order for host countries to attain an advantage. For the sake of making things easier, let us focus on MNCs from the United States. Host institutions looking for business partners in the United States are presented a dilemma. Either they continue to divulge in corrupt practices in their local government, or they strive for internal legitimacy since these MNCs are likely to have adopted norms and practices that outlaw the use of corruption and bribery from their affiliates. This can be attributed to the observance of acts such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. The act outlaws US firms from coercing a host country’s government to enter into a business advantage through the use of materialistic items, such as money. Violating this act can be costly for individuals and firms alike. To add in 1997, 33 countries had signed the Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. There is an agenda to combatting corrupt practices in global business. Regulatory

When first hearing the words bribery, extortion, lubrication and subornation, one might first think of money or ways of getting more of what you ant for a cost. Corrupt practices in business transactions are a great distress business industry, especially when it becomes the international business market. These corrupt practices include bribery, extortion, lubrication and subordination. Extortion, lubrication and subordination are different variations of bribery. Money in today’s society is what keeps the world running in most cases. Bribery first came about in the fourteenth century by the works of Chaucer and his contemporaries (Quinion, 1). In the fourteenth century the worst often offenders were judges and public officials, who exhorted

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.

Mr. Biswas, Mr. Lee and Mr. Lai are the natives of different countries. While doing business they face various difficulties due to corruption. It is hard to understand the practice of tipping in discrete cultures. In their country, organizations have to pay bribe in form of money or gift to the government officials to get their work done in an appropriate time to get the advantage over their competitors as well as to reduce their tax burdens. But due to difference in culture norms and values it is complicated to say that which activity is considered as immoral, unethical or illegal.