To remain competitive and ensure the survival of the enterprise, key expatriate executives are being compelled to engage in business practices that are deemed unethical in many parts of the West, but are an accepted way of doing business in other countries. To make matters even more serious and complicated for these U.S. enterprises, the Federal Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other recent legislation prohibits American companies from bribing officials of foreign governments. In response to a series of corporate bribery scandals involving foreign government officials during the 1970s, the FCPA was enacted in 1977 following inquiries by the U.S. Senate and the Securities and Exchange Commission, at which time Congress became concerned that disclosures of corrupt corporate practices seriously undermined public confidence in the business community and harmed America's image abroad (Diersen, 1999).
Clearly, though, the legislation has not had all of the effect that was intended: "For more than a decade, Diagnostic Products Corp.'s employees in China bribed doctors to buy laboratory-testing kits from the Los Angeles company. In May the company paid the price: U.S. authorities fined Diagnostic Products $2 million for violating U.S. antibribery laws" (p. A1). Old ways die hard, though, and bribery and questionable business practices are a reality in many parts of...
And other Western interests are seeking new markets; what then are these companies supposed to do? If the company's executives to not "play along" with the local customs and requirements for bribes, for example, the company's initiatives in that country are likely doomed to failure; however, if the company's leadership elects to pay bribes to local officials or otherwise engage in questionable business practices, they may succeed in capturing additional market share in that country but at what price?
In the case of U.S. companies, at least, the price can be high if they are caught by virtue of the FCPA, but there is a more fundamental price involved in such business practices that far transcend their immediate impact on the company's success. According to Kazakov, Taylor and Thompson, the challenge relates to "resolving even basic ethical questions given the complexity of change now underway and certain entrenched attitudes and structures from a past that has had little place for ethical business practices" (p. 5). For example, although some companies have gained early inroads into burgeoning marketplaces by "following suit," clearly, keeping lies from public scrutiny or manipulating the truth are doomed to failure as a communication strategy and organizational tactic.
These strategies share in common a general reliance on the careful
