Corporate Bribery

Corporate bribery; Illegal or a necessity, this seems to be the ethical question many corporations and businesses are asking themselves. When asked if we would ever consider giving a bribe to move a business deal forward the most common answer is NO! But companies seem to understand that bribery may now be the cost of doing business. I find this topic to be very interesting because I have an ethical battle in my head every time this subject comes up, I would like to think that I would not engage in such a controversial act, but if push came to shove would I. Picture this you are a head honcho in a growing company looking to expand into an international market but the cost to do so is that you are required to bribe the head of the KGB so that your stuff doesn’t get stolen and your people do not get hurt, What do you do? The article “Bribery: the price of doing business” http://www.dwworld.de/dw/article/0,,5408535,00.html talks about many German companies having been involved in bribery in as many as 22 countries, although they are getting caught and huge fines are being implemented, some as high as 800 million dollars, but they continue to do so because Germanys economic power is based on its exports. Many countries follow suit in this article they discuss Russia, China, and Germany, because of the growing use of bribery the EU (European Union) has created a mandate to try to battle this corruption and is expecting all countries that are aspiring to enter the EU to hold their governments accountable. Is this going to be enough although bribery is discussed it is hard to detect, it is not like the people giving and receiving the bribes are holding up signs calling attention to themselves. Besides companies do not seem to mind paying the bribes until they become too expensive and once this happens they move on anyway, Right IKEA!! I can’t sit here and say after reading this article I understand what a person goes through whether initiating or accepting a bribe but I do know that it seems to be all to familiar to business and one day I might have to make the ultimate decision.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5408535,00.html

By: Rob Truckle