Tom Chong, the newly appointed Malaysia country manager, has been promoted into animportant leadership role within the international chain of Jextra grocery stores. Chong isresponsible for the oversight of all operations in Malaysia and has been instructed to pursue a strategy of “aggressive growth” within this budding market.After eight months of employment,Chong begins to discern an undercurrent of unethical behavior surrounding Jextra and is forcedto contemplate what actions if any he will take to address two precarious situations. Chong’s initial concerns pertain to his meeting with the mayor of a Malaysian town called Klang, which is located near the country’s capital. Klang is not yet zoned for commercial purposes, but otherwise represents a seemingly perfect location for expansion. During a meetingregarding this potential store site, the mayor proposes that Jextra should contribute to a local primary school fund and incur some of the costs associated with road and electricitydevelopment near the Klang lot. Chong is unsure about the legality and logistics of these requested donations, and he doesn’t know if they are a prerequisite to gaining zoning permission. His suspicions are further aroused when he learns that the mayor’s sister is the leading championof the primary school fund, and that the road development planning was underway months before Jextra expressed interest in breaking ground in Klang.
According to Jextra’s Business Conduct Code, “it is illegal to pay or receive a bribe inten ded to influence business conduct,” so Chong should have no qualms about denying the donations if they are a precondition of doing business in Malaysia. Furthermore, the code instructs employees not to partake in “any activity that creates the appearance of anything improper,” which could certainly transpire if Jextra funded the m ayor’s sister’s public project.