The Essential Guide to Going Global

Chapter 4. Maintain High Ethical Standards

Sometimes the lines between ethical and unethical business practices and even legal and illegal activities can become blurred in a global business context. What is considered an expected gratuity in one country may be counted as an illegal bribe in another. Transparency rules require that commercial documents be accurate and verifiable, but often the global entrepreneur must rely on information provided by companies within the supply chain that might not conform to local and international laws and ethical standards. Your company must establish its own standards of acceptable conduct and enforce those standards through internal monitoring systems. Even the appearance of impropriety must be avoided to protect your company and its officers and shareholders from negative publicity, government sanctions, and the possibility of criminal prosecution. Ethics, social responsibility, and other issues of corporate governance are vital components to forging successful and long-lasting international business relationships.

Bribery in Benin

In 1998, the country of Benin hired San Diego-based defense contractor Titan Corporation to build and operate a wireless telephone network in the impoverished West African nation.^[1] To convince the former French colony to consent to a project management fee hike, the company hired an agent to help with the negotiations. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this agent was really a business advisor ...