Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Clifford and Greenhouse (2012) outline an ethical situation that occurred with Wal-Mart in Mexico. The company found that its subsidiary, Wal-Mex had commonly used bribery in order to pay off public officials in order to have their stores built. In such situations, Wal-Mex was seeking to expand rapidly in Mexico, but in each location the company had to get permission from the local authorities. Local managers decided to speed the process along by paying the bribes that were requested of them. The bribes in many cases were not illegal in Mexico, but they do contravene the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and they also are against most ethical sensibilities in the United States, where bribery is substantially less common than in Mexico.
Ethical management involves, first and foremost, paying attention to the law and working within its confines. The situation here is a grey area in that Wal-Mex is a subsidiary, so it operates at arm's length from head office. However, ethical management also holds that bribery is unethical, because it is essentially...
Moreover, bribery is something that weights down economies, with the result being that the people of Mexico suffer from all the bribery in their country because the economic markets do not function as efficiently.
So in terms of ethical management, it is essential that the manager at Wal-Mex does the right thing and awaits the permit, even if that permit gets delayed a bit because of the bribery. To go through the legal procedure without bribery is better for the Mexican economy and the Mexican people, and it starts to change the culture that exists with some small-time government officials in Mexico of setting policy based on who gives them the most money.
To prevent this type of thing from happening again requires a couple of different steps. One of the most important steps for a company is to build an ethical culture, which allows for managers to have a higher standard of ethical principles, which in turn will reduce the likelihood of incidents like this. Companies…
References
Clifford, S. & Greenhouse, S. (2012). Wal-Mart's U.S. expansion plans complicated by bribery scandal. New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/business/wal-mart-bribery-scandal-complicates-us-expansion-plans.html
ECOA. (no date) Ethical culture building: A modern business imperative. Ethics & Compliance Officer Association. Retrieved May 4, 2014 from http://www.ethics.org/files/u5/ECOA-Report-FINAL.pdf
Bribery What is the difference between lobbying and bribery? The major difference between lobbying and bribery is that the latter is considered a criminal activity which can lead to massive fines or even jail time depending on the nature and degree of the offense. Lobbying on the other hand is considered legal. Interest groups wish to gain the attention and support of politicians or influential groups, such as the International Olympics Committee
According to Goodman (2001) American companies recognize that a serious dilemma exist. On the one hand, the laws that govern international business for American companies have declared it illegal to provide bribes and kickbacks. Not only are the companies breaking the law but they are using deceitful tactics to break the law so that they will not get caught. On the other hand, "They are answerable to shareholders on Wall
A lack of cultural competence can explain the moral binaries that surround American allegations of bribery in cases like that of Ericsson. Bribery is a common and entrenched way of doing business in Asia and Africa: the continents on which the alleged briberies occurred (Turula 1). Bribery is not a black versus white ethical issue, which is why Carroll and Schultz describe it as a “subject of continuing debate, more
Illicit finance has come to be a significant issue not only locally, but also internationally. There are numerous delineations of illicit finance, but fundamentally it comes about from the practices, approaches and crimes targeting to transfer financial capital within and out of a nation in violation of national and global laws. Across the world, government administrations are working in tandem and joining forces to combat different illicit financial flows, which
Business Ethics Megacomp Ethics are play a major role in how an organization carries out its duties and responsibilities. Ethical behavior is a leader driven quality that resonates throughout the company files. By default, the leader of an organization sets the ethical and moral tone of the organization, and will reflect the inner most qualities of the leader. Ms. Werner, as the CEO of Megacomp, needs to be aware of her role
Jextra Neighborhood Stores in Malaysia: Jextra stores in Malaysia is a large Asia retailer based in Hong Kong and owned by SIM Lim Holdings, which is a large publicly traded industrial group. In addition to operating supermarkets, convenience stores, and hypermarkets, Jextra stores also operated stores in various countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Viet Nam. Following its entry to the Malaysia market in 2005, Jextra mainly