Corruption and Companies: The Use of Facilitating Payments

Making use of facilitating payments is a very widespread form of corruption. These consist of small payments or gifts made to a person – generally a public official or an employee of a private company – to obtain a favour, such as expediting an administrative process; obtaining a permit, licence or service; or avoiding an abuse of power. Unlike the worst forms of corruption, facilitating payments do not usually involve an outright injustice on the part of the payer as they are entitled to what they request. This may be why public opinion tends to condone such payments; often they are assumed to be unavoidable and are excused on the grounds of low wages and lack of professionalism among public officials and disorganisation in government offices. Many companies that take the fight against “grand” corruption very seriously are inclined to overlook these “petty” transgressions, which are seen as the grease that makes the wheels of the bureaucratic machine turn more smoothly. Despite this, facilitating payments have a pernicious effect on the working of public and private administrations: all too often they are the slippery slope to more serious forms of corruption; they impose additional costs on companies and citizens; and in the long run they sap the ethical foundations of organisations. Although many articles on corruption mention facilitating payments, there have been no systematic studies from a company’s point of view. This article thus focuses on facilitating payments from the point of view of the company that makes the payment, either as the active partner (when it is the company that takes the initiative) or as the passive partner (when the official or employee is the instigator).     

中国的涉外税法与国际惯例及WTO规则的冲突与协调

中国涉外税法与国际税收惯例及WTO的规则在经济全球化的进程中存在许多冲突,特别是在涉外所得税与关税方面,对于税收管辖权、税收优惠、防范国际避税、国际税收协定等方面的规定。分析涉外税法与国际税收惯例、WTO的一些规则及相互冲突等问题,并对中国涉外税法及适用进行相应的一些改革,这对于达到与国际税收惯例及WTO规则的协调很有必要。     

The Global Fight against Corruption: A Foucaultian, Virtues-Ethics Framing

This paper extends the discussion of business ethics by examining the issue of corruption, its definition, the solutions being proposed for dealing with it, and the ethical perspectives underpinning these proposals. The paper’s findings are based on a review of association, think-tank, and academic reports, books, and papers dealing with the topic of corruption, as well as the pronouncements, websites, and position papers of a number of important global organizations active in the fight. These organizations include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Transparency International, USAID, the United Nations, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Organization of American States, and the Council of Europe. Our discussion departs from prior analyses by adopting a Foucaultian theoretical framing and by incorporating insights found in the virtue ethics literature. Implications are provided for international business organizations.     

Determinants of Bribery in International Business: The Cultural and Economic Factors

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores for 47 countries reported by Transparency International were used to ascertain determinants of bribe taking in international business. Two sets of independent variables – economic and cultural – were used in a multiple regression analysis. Results indicate that bribe taking was more likely to be prevalent in countries with low per capita income and lower disparities in income distribution. Cultural factors such as high power distance and high masculinity in a country were also likely to be associated with high level of bribe taking. Both economic and cultural factors were important explanatory factors of bribery. Implications of the findings for combating bribery are discussed. Rajib Sanyal is an American Council of Education Fellow at George Mason University for 2004–2005, on leave from The College of New Jersey, where he is a professor of management. Dr. Sanyal has published widely, and is the author of a textbook on International Management.     

The Role of the OECD and EU Conventions in Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials

The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the OECD Convention) obligates signatory nations to make bribery of foreign public officials a criminal act on an extraterritorial basis. The purposes of this article are to describe the nature and consequences of bribery, outline the major provisions of the OECD Convention, and analyze its role in promoting transparency and accountability in international business. While the OECD Convention is not expected to totally eliminate the seeking or taking of bribes, there are hopes that a uniform set of rules will curtail corrupt behavior, as long as those rules are both enforceable and enforced.     

Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Environmentally Responsible Behavior: The Case of The United Nations Global Compact

The aim of this paper is to shed some light on understanding why companies adopt environmentally responsible behavior and what impact this adoption has on their performance. This is an empirical study that focuses on the United Nations (UN) Global Compact (GC) initiative as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mechanism. A survey was conducted among GC participants, of which 29 responded. The survey relies on the anticipated and actual benefits noted by the participants in the GC. The results, while not conclusive, indicate that companies have more than one reason for adopting environmentally responsible behavior and that ethical and economic reasons co-exist. In terms of performance, the impact of participation in the GC seems to be particularly high in securing network opportunities and improved corporate image. The results indicate that companies that have participated many years in the GC, have submitted the most projects and have attended the most GC meetings also regard their CSR involvement as having had a strong, positive influence on their market performance. GC participation does not result in significant cost advantages, but this does not seem to have been regarded as a goal anyway. Costs seem to be affected to a␣large extent by existence of in-house research and␣development and the capability of developing environmentally sound technologies. Overall, the company receives both ethical and economic benefits from joining the GC. Dilek Cetindamar received her B.S. degree from Industrial Engineering Department at Bogazici University (BU), her MA degree from Economics Department at BU, and her Ph.D. degree from management Department at Istanbul Technical University in 1995. Before her appointment to the Faculty of Management at Sabanci University in 1999, she worked in the following universities: BU, Case Western Reserve University (USA), Portland state university (USA),and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). She has seven books, 15 book chapters, and 22 papers published in various international journals. She received an encouragement award from Turkish Science Academy in 2003. Her main interest and research topics are Technology Management, Development Economics and Entrepreneurship. Kristoffer Husoy has a Master of Arts in European Studies of Society, Science and Technology from the University of Oslo and a Master of Science in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Research interests are Corporate Social Responsibility, environmental, technology and human-computer interaction. He currently holds a scientist position at ABB Corporate Research in Oslo Norway.     

国际商务接待业的发展现状及其模式探析——以西安为例

文章通过西安会展、旅游和酒店业发展现状,明确了会展、旅游和酒店业三产业国际化和商务化的发展方向.在总结国内外三产业理论成果尤其是目前西安会展旅游和商务旅游研究成果的基础上提出了西安发展国际商务接待业要采取产业融合发展的模式,并从市场、业务和管理三个层面深入探讨了实现产业融合的路径.     

对华反倾销国别和案件的聚集统计分析

中国是世界遭受反倾销数最多的国家,因此统对华反倾销国别和案件的聚集统计分析既是掌握各国对华反倾销的动态趋势的渠道,也是帮助中国企业有针对性的采取预防和应对措施的途径。通过对华反倾销国别和案件的统计、对华反倾销是发达和发展中国家聚集及对华反倾销倾向性国别聚集的统计,揭示并总结出外国对华反倾销的几点规律。     

文化差异对国际商务活动的影响

在国际商务活动中,文化对于商务活动的各个方面都有着直接的影响。因为世界各国在文化方面差异很大。如时间观、权力和决策、法律的意见、关系网等,所以在商务活动中只有了解了对方的文化,才能使国际商务活动顺利地进行。     

企业跨国经营中的文化影响

企业开展跨国经营,是一项极其错综复杂的工程,而文化因素在其中的地位与影响是很重要的。文化作为一个社会群体的价值体系,其共性与可预知性影响着人们的个人行为。企业在开展跨国经营时,只有了解和掌握了东道国的当地文化,方能合理地制定出企业发展的计划与措施,并合理地针对不同文化制定出合乎其具体情况的经营管理策略,以此扬长避短,提升企业的国际市场竞争力和经营管理水平。     

电子商务对国际贸易的影响及对策分析

随着国际互联网的不断拓展,电子商务活动在世界各国兴起和飞速发展,并对我国国际贸易领域影响深远。加入WTO后,我国的国际贸易在电子商务中潮下面临着巨大的机遇和挑战。本文分析了在此背景下,中国发展国际化电子商务的策略。     

标准对国际贸易影响效应的研究及政策借鉴

随着科学技术的发展和经济全球化进程的加快,标准对国际贸易的影响效应越来越显著。文章搜集了不同研究对象国家1996～2005年超过的60个产业的标准和国际贸易数据,建立面板数据回归模型并进行多元回归分析,得出标准对在发展中国家与发达国家之间以及发达国家之间的国际贸易的影响效应及其影响机制。在此基础上提出制定国家标准化工作中长期战略、参与国际标准化组织和国际标准的制定工作、有针对性地开展国家标准化工作等方面对我国标准化活动的政策建议。     

Impact of Corruption on the Development of Information and Communications Infrastructures in Bulgaria and Romania

Abstract

Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in January of 2007. Joining the EU is expected to promote the candidate country's economic growth, provide access to western technology, increase employment and attract foreign investments, the collective result of which is expected to be social, economic and technological advancement. In a perfect world where all factors contribute favorably those goals can be achieved. However, the detrimental impact of corruption on achieving national goals must also be addressed. This article examines linkages between information infrastructures and social development in Bulgaria and Romania as well as investment needs and financing were addressed with the objective to improve National Information Infrastructures (NII), expected payoffs from NII improvements were identified; the role of corruption in retarding information infrastructure development was also investigated. Using regression analysis the relationship between information infrastructures, social development, corruption, and economic development in Bulgaria and Romania were compared to those of the EU10 countries admitted into the EU in 2004 as well as to those in the original EU15 countries. It is concluded that given present conditions in Romania and Bulgaria development financing will have to come from internal and from World Bank sources rather than from foreign direct investment.     

人工智能技术变革对国际贸易的影响

人工智能技术的快速发展正催生第四次工业革命,可能引发全球价值链深度重构和世界经贸格局重大变革。世界主要经济强国将发展人工智能技术作为争夺新一轮产业竞争优势的重要战略抓手。本文基于全球价值链视角研究人工智能技术变革对国际贸易的影响,我们发现人工智能技术变革可能推动国际贸易规模扩大,提升服务贸易份额,并促进国际贸易交易模式平台化、小宗化,可为中小企业创造更多参与国际贸易的机会。然而,人工智能技术变革也可能通过降低企业劳动力需求从而对我国等发展中国家的出口拉动型增长模式造成严重的潜在威胁。为应对人工智能技术变革,我国应部署并强化对人工智能产业发展的政策支持,加快培育制造业国际竞争新优势,大力推动先进制造业与现代生产性服务业深度融合发展,全面促进"中国制造"攀升全球价值链中高端。     

跨国公司贸易对国际收支的影响

与国际收支概念产生时期的世界贸易环境相比较,目前的世界贸易环境已经发生了天翻地覆的变化,跨国公司贸易对“经济体”国际收支产生着重要影响,这种影响不仅体现在国际收支项目上,而且使按原产地规则统计的国际收支的意义发生了很大变异。     

文化差异对国际商务谈判的影响及对策研究

在全球经济一体化的总框架内,国家间的贸易活动更加频繁,商业关系日益复杂,国际商务谈判成为跨国贸易交往中不可或缺的重要环节。如何能更好地融合不同文化背景的人进行国际商务谈判,解决文化差异将是谈判的一个关键部分。本文首先对关于文化差异对国际商务谈判影响的相关文献进行简单搜集和整理,然后从文化差异产生的原因及类型、文化差异如何影响商务谈判以及相应的应对策略这三个方面进行分析和阐述。     

深圳会展业专业化建设研究

产业集群和产业链是会展业专业化建设的两个关键点。深圳会展业专业化发展具有良好的产业、经济、区位等综合优势,应该从办展机制、运作体系、品牌发展、人才建设等方面展开专业化市场化建设。     

低碳经济对国际贸易发展的影响

低碳经济对国际贸易将带来深刻的影响,其主要影响方面为:随着低碳经济在全球的迅速兴起,国际贸易格局将进行重大调整;低碳经济创新碳金融,进一步拓展国际服务贸易内涵;低碳经济将催生新一轮技术革命,促进国际技术贸易和技术转让的竞争与合作态势;与低碳经济相关的单边贸易措施与多边贸易规则的潜在冲突,可能成为新贸易壁垒。     

国际贸易对中外双向投资影响的实证分析

改革开放以来尤其是我国加入世贸以来,我国国际贸易额大幅上升,与此同时,流入我国的外商直接投资和我国的对外直接投资同时迅猛地增长。那么国际贸易和双向投资之间是否存在着某种必然的相关性呢?运用计量经济学的方法对我国国际贸易额与我国双向FDI的总量关系进行实证分析,得出结论,国际贸易对我国双向FDI起着促进作用,其中,对外商直接投资促进作用较大(在99%显著水平下,每产生一亿美元的进口就会流入0.303亿美元的FDI,每产生一亿美元的出口就会流入0.208亿美元的FDI),对对外直接投资影响较小(在99%显著水平下,每产生一亿美元的贸易仅对对外投资0.003 203亿美元)。并由此提出了一些建设性的意见。     

The Domains of Undergraduate International Business and International Management Courses in Accredited Schools of Business

ABSTRACT

This study compared undergraduate international business and international management course syllabi from 190 management departments at accredited U.S. business schools. Comparisons revealed considerable overlap in topic areas in the two courses. The findings indicate the need for greater domain clarity and differentiation in objectives, topic areas covered, and textbooks used. Domain clarification could lead to more truthful representation of the two courses, better training and disciplinary grounding of course instructors, more appropriate hosting of the courses in business school departments, and enhanced skill-sets among students in these courses. Finally, clear domain definitions are necessary for reliability and validity in international business research.