Bribery & Intl Mgmt

Webster’s defines bribery as “the act of taking a bribe.” It then goes on to define a bribe as “money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust.” This is the standard interpretation used by nearly all Western businesses. However, in many other parts of the world, what Westerners consider bribery is simply one of the everyday costs of conducting good business.

Although we do not want to break the laws of our own country, we have to realistically consider that some forms of bribery are part and parcel of doing business with our international clients and partners. Business leaders and managers must sometimes develop creative ways in which to be successful in a culture that finds bribery acceptable without violating the home country’s or company’s laws and regulations.

I believe that there are several options available to business persons that would enable them to incorporate the host country’s belief in the acceptability of bribery without breaking the laws and rules of the home country. It could be argued that the kind of practices I will present violate the spirit of the home country’s laws, however, I propose that they actually address the host country’s concepts of compromise.

The first suggestion is to incorporate potential dollar amounts into the project forecast in anticipation of both true facilitation and potential bribery costs. Forecasting for facilitation costs is allowed under all Western anti-bribery laws provided the costs meet the required criteria (dependent on the home country). These funds are payments that are made to officials/organizations to facilitate the process. The additional funds that would cover beyond the facilitation costs could be calculated into the cost of the project in a negative format; that is, these funds could be allotted within the forecast as dollars that would be deducted from payments required from the client. In other words: anticipated...