Building a World-Class Compliance Program: Best Practices and Strategies for Success

Chapter 6. The International Landscape of Compliance

"Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."

—Mahatma Gandhi

In today's shrinking world, a whisper uttered in New York is heard in Beijing. A deal made in Delhi is felt in London. A company based in the United States often has subsidiaries in dozens of other countries. The world economy is quickly growing at breakneck speed. The BRICs—the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China—are expected to be dominant forces in the global economy by the middle of this century if not sooner. It seems that nothing short of an extinction level event will stop this explosive growth. Yet, there are other forces besides natural disasters, armed conflicts, and environmental issues that can severely derail business efforts and hinder the flattening of the world.^[193] Corruption, corporate fraud, and scandal are the end products of an ineffective corporate compliance program and can lead to business failure.

Compliance goes beyond the borders of the United States with the globalization of business. International compliance is a necessity because of a confluence of several important factors. The global nature of companies with subsidiaries, affiliates, and vendors all over the world provide great opportunity but also great risk. U.S. law reaches all around the world and covers the actions ...