...Research Methodology • Title A study of the effect of bribery and corruption with lack of censorship in the governmental institution There are various reasons why corruption takes place and takes hold. Sometimes it is due to the fact that officials are simply not paid very much and so they need to supplement their salaries with money from bribes. Sometimes the bureaucratic system is set up in such a way that officials simply refuse to carry out their duties unless they are ‘encouraged’ by being offered bribes. In other cases it is actually part of the tradition and culture of a country to give and receive ‘gifts’ in order to get anything done. In some cases companies from less corrupt countries allegedly engage in bribery in order to do business in countries where corruption is the norm, otherwise they would not be able to operate successfully in those countries. It can be argued that if such companies did not bribe officials in the necessary countries then the economies of those countries would suffer because fewer companies would invest in them, thus making them poorer. On a smaller scale corruption is often just a result of people’s natural desire to ‘beat the system’. Mostly, corruption occurs in environments where it is tolerated and where the temptation is too strong to resist. In the following paragraph there are some examples of how bribes take place in each and every one of them. • Problem Statement Main Problem: A person gives some money to officials...
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...Bribery is a common ethical problem in business and normal life and as the author stated in the Toronto Star article, “it is every CEO’s worst nightmare” to find his company name under a bribery scandal headline. However, this ethical problem might not be considered a problem in other countries in the world. The question that has been raised and discussed in the class, given this fact, is what should an international company do in situations in which it either bribes or loses in foreign countries? Should it accept the fact that bribery as part of the business in this country or should it maintain the same ethical standards it used to hold in its country of origin Clearly the active agent in this case is the international company. The passive agents are competitors, society and investors. There are only two choices, in my opinion, for the company; either to bribe or not to bribe. Although we discussed another choice in our class in which a company use a local agent to do all the dirty tasks, but I believe it is exactly the same as paying the bribe by itself. If we apply the utilitarianism model to analyze this situation focusing on the purpose of maximizing company’s profits, some people might not consider the company's bribes unethical activities. As long as the company’s market share is increasing and investors are gaining more money, nobody cares what the company has done to accomplish these goals. In my opinion, under the same method of analysis and only considering increasing...
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...7. In your opinion, are bribes ever acceptable? Why or why not? Provide examples and how you would handle No, in my opinion, if we encourage or we get accustomed with bribery, it can lead to a corrupt society and can do more harm in the community. For example, if a community or society get used to bribery, it can lead to a higher corruption rate. Having a higher corruption rate in a country can have a negative impact in economic growth. In addition, bribery can have a bad impact in the community, and for example, if a person is trying to bribe someone to approve their proposal (can be a product or project) without undergoing to its due process, this can lead to low quality products and worst it can lead to poor outcomes. 8. What are ethical dilemmas? Why do they exist? Provide some examples. Ethical dilemma is a situation that any side you choose can argue about what is right and what is wrong. Examples: A new sales employee was asked by his supervisor to disregard the company's return policy and give the product to the customer and asked not to report the incident. Your Professor asked you perform a peer evaluation of your group members to determine the grade. One of your group member is your friend, who did not participate in group discussions, meetings and did not contribute in your class project at all. Giving him a passing grade will let him pass the class, and he will fail the class when he gets a low peer evaluation score. 9. Discuss the cultural relativism...
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...International Business and Bribery Have you ever bribed someone to let you do something that you weren’t allowed to do? As much as I hate to admit to it, I have done it my fair share of times. Bribery can be a good or bad thing depending on the situation and how the bribe is used. No matter what I believe that bribery can usually lead to bad consequences. Though it can happen for just small things such as slipping someone a 20 dollar bill to get you into a club, it can also happen in big corporations that are involved in international business. If they are discovered by the government these big companies will pretty much lose everything. For example, “In February of 1975, Eli M. Black, the CEO of United Brands Company, jumped from the 44th floor of his New York City office Building. Black’s jump followed a $1.25 million bribe to Honduran Chief of State General Oswaldo Lopez Arellano to obtain reduced shipment taxes on the exportation of bananas”( Smith 1). This example cost the life of one person as well as high level job positions for 2 people and it hurt the company in a very negative way. This is just one example of a company that has been hurt really badly because of bribery. I will state a couple of more later on in the paper. One way most people don’t know is that bribery happens in the government most often with lobbyists. The whole system is corrupt and its one of those things that is very hard to fix overnight. You also have to remember that some bribery can also be good. It...
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...Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool Company – To Bribe or Not to Bribe The Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool Company of Iowa City, Iowa, has a small one-man sales office headed by Frank Rothe in Latino, a major Latin-American country. Frank has been in Latino for about 10 years and is retiring this year, his replacement is Bill Hunsaker, one of Starnes-Brenner’s top salesmen. Both will be in Latino for about eight months, during which time Frank will show Bill the ropes, introduce him to their principal customers, and, in general, prepare him to take over. Frank has been very successful as a foreign representative in spite of his unique style and, at times, complete refusal to follow company policy when it doesn’t suit him. The company hasn’t really done much about his method of operation, although from time to time he has angered some top company men. As President McCaughey, who retired a couple of years ago, once remarked to a vice-president who was complaining about Frank, “If he’s making money—and he is (more than any of the other foreign offices)—then leave the guy alone.” When McCaughey retired, the new chief immediately instituted organizational changes that gave more emphasis to the overseas operations, moving the company toward a truly worldwide operation into which a loner like Frank would probably not fit. In fact, one of the key reasons for selecting Bill as Frank’s replacement, besides Bill’s record as a top salesman, is Bill’s capacity as an organization man. He understands...
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...Bribery is a form of corruption. An example of bribery is giving money or a gift to a teacher to get a good grade. Lobbying is an attempt by a group or individual to influence the decision of someone or a group or even a public official. There is a major difference between bribery’s and lobbying. Lobbying is a legal form of actively supporting a cause or position while bribery involves the giving of money or other incentives to persuade somebody, in authority, to do something that is dishonest or illegal. Bribes are unmistakably considered to be unethical, but people's opinions change when seen in past situations whether they participated in offered bribes themselves or not. Persons, who did not offer bribes, judge those who offered them and those who accepted them more critically than other people. The SLOC can say that the gifts and medical care that was given was not intent to bribe but an attempt to help some of the members of the IOC. The SLOC paid for medical expenses for a person that had hepatitis. So easily they can say that the reason free medical care was provided was to make this influential member of the IOC better and that was their intent. Under the FCPA it does not matter how much money or the value of anything given it is the intent for what you are doing it for. If you intent is not a good intent then that is considered bribery. I also don’t think the entire community should be held responsible for something that the members violated. Punishment for violation...
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...Corruption and Bribery April 29, 2015 Abstract In this paper, I will be writing about corruption and bribery. I will define the terms and go on to explain the regulations that have been put in place to stop corruption and bribery. I will then go on to give examples of major corruption and bribery scandals that companies have recently been in and what has been done to punish said companies for their crime. Intro Corruption is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police officers), the act of corrupting someone or something, and something that has been changed from its original form”. (Merriam-Webster) Bribery is defined as “something valuable (such as money) that is given in order to get someone to do something”. (Merriam-Webster). A bribe can be from person to person, company to company, or even country to country and it is considered a crime in most parts of the world. Many would agree that there is a lot of bribery and corruption in modern day politics as well as International companies, but I will not be going into that for it is another huge topic. “Bribery and corruption are major obstacles to socio-economic development and distort national and international economic relations.” (IBE) This corruption is seen as an unfair advantage for companies with a lot of money to throw away to get what they want and is considered very unethical in the eyes...
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...For this assignment our learning team discussed the Bribery Scandal at Siemens AG. As a group we analyzed the case and conducted additional research to answer critical questions in each key section. Supported by the course material and supplemental articles, the team compiled the research that discussed Internet technologies, affective technologies in management development strategies, global alliances and provided recommendations on cross border operations. Key issues Analysis of the Siemens case resulted in several key issues which explained the bribery scandal. Lack of leadership is the primary cause for the Siemens representatives convicted of bribery in 2007. The intention of the bribery was to ensure that Siemens obtained needed global contracts. The methodology offered supported no personal gain from this bribery and the organization gained contracts which negated a cause for an illegal act. In addition, Siemens was operated in countries where these acts were considered legal. There were no other documented strategies to obtain the contracts that did not include illegal activity (Deresky, 2011). Although managers were able to offer defenses against the allegations, the underlying issue in this case is poor leadership will result in multiple scandals. The leadership team within this organization took no responsibility from an international perspective to create an ethical environment and standards for their employees. There was no acknowledgement of illegal activity...
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...business? I believe that bribing is unethical, not only on the person doing the bribe but also for the person receiving the bribe. There is a famous saying that says "it takes two to tango". In the Siemens case, the bribery was in all of their doings. I believe that it wasn't necessary to use bribe to win over the contracts. What companies need to do to win over contracts is to actually sell their products, believing that it's going to benefit the country and show the countries how. Maybe instead for giving millions of dollars in bribe money actually give them a big discount. 2. The board had their reasons to not extend Kleinfeld's term, despite his good performance and was not being directly implicated in the bribery scandal. From the beginning he was not received well by the conservative old generation because of his American style of work. So I believe that the board was not right in not extending Kleinfeld's term, because their reasons to do so had nothing to do with the bribery scandal, but personal. The main challenge for the new CEO was to bring the company out the bribery scandals and sustain the growth set by Kleinfeld and above all gain the confidence of labor and management within Siemens. Siemens was really at fault in this bribery case. On account of increasing competition companies were resorting to...
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...The Big Business of the Olympics and Bribery Unit 2 IP- International Legal and Ethical Issues in Business Rachel Davis American Intercontinental University The Big Business of the Olympics and Bribery Since the winter of November 1998, there have been serious allegations made regarding the involvement of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the questionable lobbying methods which were used to entice the International Olympics Committee to select Salt Lake City as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics. There can be a very fine line between what is considered lobbying and bribery, and this situation walks this line narrowly. There are few differences between the acts of bribery and lobbying, but the few details are enough to separate one from legal implications. Lobbying is typically described as giving money as contribution to political groups in exchange for hoped-for favorable treatment when certain legislative and political decisions are made (Lobbying vs. Bribery,2010). When a business, corporation, or individual gives property or money in exchange for a specific return, it is considered bribery (Lobbying vs. Bribery, 2010). It can also be said that lobbying is, in many cases, looked at as an attempt to change existing rules or policies, while bribery is usually an attempt to get around these rules or policies (Bribe or Lobby?(it's a matter of development), 2005). Any argument that could be made by the SLOC defending their payments as justified lobbying would...
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...Siemens AG Bribery Scandal This paper will focus on the analysis of the well-known and popular bribery scandal in the world, such as Siemens AG Bribery Scandal which occurred in November, 2006. Siemens AG is one of the largest and most popular electrical engineering companies operated in the world. The present company was founded in 1847 in Berlin and is now headquartered in Munich, Germany. The discussion and the proper analysis of this bribery scandal will help to learn many effective lessons from this situation helping organizations and individuals to avoid such cases and experiences in the future. Siemens was considered one of the most powerful and productive companies in the field of electronics and that bribery scandal surely affected its business and popularity in the world greatly. It was difficult to understand the underlying causes of this bribery scandal, especially on the part of such large, successful and popular company known not only in Germany but also all over the world. In fact, several employees and even executive board members were charged guilty in this scandal and imposed huge monetary fines for illegal and unethical behavior harming the business of the company greatly. Brooks and Dunn stated that the company developed a corrupt organizational culture “in which hundreds of millions of Euros were put into slush funds that were then used to pay bribes in order to obtain lucrative contracts” (Brooks and Dunn 290-291). There were several cases of such bribery...
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...Management CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Lecturer: Richard Underwood Individual essay Bribery, giving and taking, is an unfortunate consequence of engaging in international trade but is necessary to pursue an organization’s objective of maximizing return on investment. Student name: Vu Thi Hoang Yen Student ID: 15994331 Bribery in international trade has become increasingly popular all over the world. When engaging in international trade, many businesses have to concern about whether bribery is an effective way to reach their target of profits maximization. This essay will discuss about the impact of bribery on organizations’ profits in international trade. The first part will explain the definition of bribery in international trade and provide some fact and figures about the popularity of bribery in business today. The second part will investigate how bribery helps organizations to maximize return on investment. The final part will look at negative influences of bribery on the performance of the business According to The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2009), bribery is a specific form of corruption that can be defined as the voluntary giving of something of value to influence performance of official duty either by doing something improper or failing to do something they should do within the authority of their position. In the international business, bribery is regarded as action that one business firm from one country offer monetary or...
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...Lobbying VS Bribery Legal and Ethical Environment of Business BUSN150 Unit 1 IP 03/23/2012 Certification of Authorship: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me especially for this course. Student Signature: ____________________________________ When speaking in terms of a legal and ethics business environments you have two debated legal and ethical issues, which are differentiating the differences between “lobbying” and “bribery”. The difference between the two is “lobbying” is the act of supporters of who agree with your opinion and have a particular interest in which you’re pursuing. With that they will take in consideration and appeal on your behalf towards changing certain policies and laws and campaign for the change you would like to see. On the other end “bribery” is persuading someone of who might be against your decisions or ideas of changes by convincing them in offerings of financial gifts, or certain incentives that may influence them to be all for your decisions rather than against. “Difference Between” (Clarisse 2011.) According to justice.gov The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was enacted for the purposes of making it unlawful for certain classes of persons to make payments to...
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...Bribery Scandal Case Summary This case covers the scandal at Siemens AG in 2006, 2007 which consisted of employees bribing foreign officials. Siemens employees made slush funds specifically for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage to win contracts. They also were accused of bribing officials of the labor board in return they would give support for Siemen’s policies. Siemens office in Germany was raided and an official investigation was started. In other countries they were investigated subsequently following the raid in Germany. The CEO resigned regardless of not being found responsible though the scandal was under his watch. This scandal set off a chain reaction to questioning the other companies in competition and the laws in Germany made to deter this behavior. Labor representatives who had been possibly bribed held the board, which governed the laws. This created an element of people responsible of making sure this type of thing did not happen, by letting it happen for personal gain. All along critics of this type of management feared this to be a potential issue. This shed light upon the challenges that the new management would encounter after the scandal occurred. In your opinion, is “bribing” unethical & illegal or just a cost of doing business? Discuss this in light of Siemens’ bribery scandal. Bribing is unethical and it takes the level playing arena away from business and all that compete within it. Oligopolies and monopolies arise from this type...
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...Bribery and corruption in the public sector is endemic and unavoidable in all societies. There is growing consensus that corruption and bribery are dangerous to the state economies and harmful to the society. Nevertheless, corruption and bribery are endemic and inevitable in many societies when contacted with government institutions where the heads or leaders are corrupt in the self-regarding procedures and part of officials straightly infringes legal restrictions by abusing the power to accept the payments of bribe. However, it is important to distinguish between corruption and bribery, when discussing the problem which resulted by them. Corruption is probably identifies a public official who illicitly uses his position or discretionary power to acquire some benefits for himself or for another. Whilst, bribery, which is an accompaniment of corrupt conduct and as a supply side or a demand side when corruption procedure occur in the public institutions or entrepreneurial activities. The incidence of corruption is relevantly high in developing and transition states where bribery is endemic and ubiquitous, particularly within the well-organized corruption system. ! Well-structured organization could guarantee that the unofficial payments which paid by firms or individuals will ultimately delivered. !analogically, under a well-organized system, bribe recipients perform as consolidated suppliers and set the marginal revenue less than the marginal costs to elucidate the higher demand...
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