CHAPTER 14
Global Bribery And Corruption – How Much For Your Ethics? FEW
MEN HAVE THE VIRTUE TO WITHSTAND THE HIGHEST
BIDDER.
– GEORGE WASHINGTON
have long ago grown tired of having their firms solicited for bribes when conducting international negotiations. It is a highly inefficient means of planning and operating a company. Corporations recognize, however, that there are ethical failures on both sides. The demand side (officials who accept or demand bribes) and the supply side (businesses, small and large) share the blame, though not equally. To eliminate corruption both the demand and supply sides must be addressed.
THE WEALTHY ECONOMIES OF THE WORLD
Bribery and Corruption: It’s Everywhere The attack on international business bribery is two-fold. First, countries and corporations have come to the conclusion that fighting bribery and corruption is no longer simply a moral and ethical imperative, but also a question of bottom line economics. Second, governments of wealthy economies realize that their demands for ending bribery fall on deaf ears in poor economies where corruption is often the standard means of getting things done.
The International Corruption Index Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization dedicated to increasing government accountability and curbing international and national corruption, is the best-known non-governmental agency tracking corruption in the world today. Based in Berlin, Germany, Transparency International has chapters in 77 countries. Its vision is of a world in which government, politics, business, civil society and the daily lives of people are free of corruption. Transparency International has produced its much-watched Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for over a decade. Perceptions of corruption, which are measured in the CPI, are precisely what their name suggests—perceptions—but they are a tremendously important indicator, telling government leaders how country analysts and business people around the world view their country. CPI’s methodology is based on a series of surveys specific to each nation. The index ranks 102 countries. Some of the richest countries in the world— Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden— scored 9 or higher out of a clean score of 10 in the CPI, indicating very low levels of perceived corruption. But 70 countries—many of which are among the world’s
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