Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: A legal and moral analysis

The author examines the categories of bribes that are prohibited under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act from the perspective of three significant moral theories: utility, rights and justice. He concludes that the Act does not go too far in demanding ethical behaviors from U.S. business people doing business in foreign markets, therefore, it is not in need of a major revision. With regard to accounting provisions, movement from a reasonableness standard to one of materiality would be appropriate however. Bill Shaw is Professor of Business Law at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in the area of business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and environmental law. During the Spring Semester, 1987, he held the Lynn S. Autrey Visiting Chair of Business Ethics, Rice University. His articles have appeared in various journals and he is the author of Environmental Law: People Pollution and Land Use (1976) and The structure of the Legal Environment (1987) (with Art Wolfe).     

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: The Failure of the Self-Regulatory Model of Corporate Governance in the Global Business Environment

The American regulatory model of corporate governance rests on the theory of self-regulation as␣the most effective and efficient means to achieve corporate self-restraint in the marketplace. However, that model fails to achieve regular compliance with baseline ethical and legal behaviors as evidenced by a century of repeated corporate debacles, the most recent being Enron, WorldCom, and Refco. Seemingly impervious to its domestic failure, Congress imprinted the same self-regulation paradigm on legislation restraining global business behavior, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This anti-bribery initiative prohibits unethical and illegal payments made to foreign public officials in an effort to eradicate bribery as a rational-choice global market entry strategy. However, this paper illustrates, using newly complied statistics from 1977 to 2008, that the FCPA has not had a dramatic impact on U.S. global corporate behavior despite its recent high profile coverage and the tough regulatory rhetoric about corporate compliance. The paper also extends the prior Cragg and Woof FCPA efficiency study and provides current empirical evidence to resolve several unanswered questions raised by that earlier study.     

The Price of International Business Morality: Twenty Years Under The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. The FCPA is the first and only statute prohibiting bribery and other corrupt business practices by U.S. citizens and companies conducting business overseas. This paper provides an overview of the FCPA during the two decades of its existence. More specifically, the objectives of this paper are four-fold. First, the paper provides background information about the FCPA of 1977 and subsequent amendments in 1988. Second, the paper discusses the enforcement of the FCPA since its passage by examining the number of cases prosecuted under the FCPA and the respective penalties imposed. Third, the paper discusses the economic impact of the FCPA by addressing whether the FCPA places U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage. Fourth, the paper provides public policy recommendations to expand the reach and scope of the FCPA. It covers efforts to criminalize bribery through multilateral organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organization of American States (OAS). It also covers bilateral arrangements and efforts by non-governmental organizations such as Transparency International.     

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's Consquences for U.S. Trade: The Nigerian Example

A by-product of the Watergate investigations into illegal political contributions and money-laundering was the revelation that American corporations had been making questionable payments to foreign officials to gain business advantages. That discovery was the driving force behind passage of the FCPA in 1977. Many since have complained that the law put American firms at a disadvantage in international trade. This paper assesses the credibility of that claim, as well as exploring the socioeconomic implications of corruption in a world of intensifying international competition. Based on the literature review, examination of international trade data and intensive interviews with foreign firms doing business in Nigeria, the paper reaches the following conclusions:1. Enforcement of FCPA has waxed and waned, but there is no evidence that its enforcement has impeded the growth of U.S. trade. In fact, trade with countries previously considered "bribe prone" has out-paced the growth of trade with non-bribe-prone countries, despite FCPA.2. Those American corporations which, in the past, were guilty of international bribery did so as a short-cut when adherence to time-honored ethics could have accomplished the same or better results.3. The "Storehouse of Knowledge" maintained by successful firms has been far more influential in promoting exports than any questionable payments they might be tempted to make.4. In most of the questionable payments investigated, American corporations had indulged in bribery to gain a competitive edge over other U.S. firms rather than foreign ones.5. Whatever the result, international bribery is inherently wrong for the same reason that domestic bribery is wrong.Despite criticism of it, FCPA has benefitted honest U.S. firms by reducing unfair competition among other American firms which comprise about 80 percent of the world's true multinationals. For multinationals to function in anything other than a transparent manner would be to impede the spread of democratic governments and market economies worldwide.     

Liquid Applepie: Market Entry Strategy for a New Lifestyle Drink

ABSTRACT

This is a theoretical case which observes the path a small business needs to follow to be successful. It is hoped the company involved will take these conclusions into consideration for future development.

This case study has been conducted in order to understand the theoretical models of international marketing. It determines the key criteria that need to be considered when entering a foreign market. The idea was to develop a market entry strategy for a Polish Vodka manufacturer who wants to enter the Austrian market.

After an analysis of the market and consideration of the situational factors, which are very important for the development of a detailed SWOT analysis, the segmentation, targeting, positioning and finally the selection of the right entry method, including the customer specific marketing tools, have been identified.     

Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises as a China Market Entry Option: An Australian Case Study

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the experience of a large Australian company, Amcor Ltd., in establishing and operating a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in China. Amcor has made a deliberate decision to reject the joint venture option, which has been by far the most common form of foreign investment in China, and to instead proceed with directly establishing a WFOE. Problems experienced by Amcor will be highlighted as well as the ways in which these problems have been overcome, providing a valuable framework for other foreign companies wishing to pursue the WFOE market entry option.     

外国背包旅游市场营销策略:以四川为例

背包旅游已成为旅游市场主流,采用访谈调查和统计分析方法,研究四川背包旅游市场行为特征,针对性地提出了四川背包旅游市场营销策略:四大旅游品牌构筑四川整体文化特色;点线结合空间战略促进背包客空间扩散;整合资源,发挥世界遗产旅游品牌优势;注重目的地背包旅游网络营销;与西部其它背包旅游目的地联合营销。     

国际市场进入模式选择与企业异质性：一个文献综述

生产率差异是决定企业国际市场进入模式选择的重要因素。本文通过梳理近年来异质性企业贸易与投资文献,阐释了企业如何在贸易、水平型FDI、垂直型FDI和复合型FDI之间进行选择以及选择FDI的企业会采取何种进入方式的问题。现有的异质性企业贸易与投资模型较好地解释了发达国家的经验事实,但在企业异质性的来源、消费者需求结构以及发展中国家的市场扭曲等方面,异质性企业贸易和投资模型仍需进一步深入研究。     

The Political Economy of Brexit: Why Making It Easier to Leave the Club Could Improve the EU

The UK exit from the EU represents a qualitative change in the nature of EU membership. On the one hand, it conveyed the lesson that for the Union to be sustainable, membership needs to entail constant caretaking as far as individual members’ contributions to the common good are concerned, with both rights and obligations. Countries with preferences that are too divergent for the Union to function properly should then not be discouraged to invoke Article 50 and to opt instead for membership in the EEA or for a free trade agreement. The Union has to deliver to be sustainable, but it cannot do so if there is a constant hold up of decisions that are in the common interest. On the other hand, with the eurozone having established itself as the de facto core of European (political) integration, the UK’s preference for a stand-alone (and incomplete) economic union became untenable, because the need to make the monetary union work calls for further integration and institution-building in the economic union sphere.     

Ethics as a Risk Management Strategy: The Australian Experience

This article addresses the connection of ethics to risk management, and argues that there are compelling reasons to consider good ethical practice to be an essential part of such risk management. That connection has significant commercial outcomes, which include identifying potential problems, preventing fraud, the preservation of corporate reputation, and the mitigation of court penalties should any transgression arise. Information about the legal position, examples of cases, and arguments about the potential benefits of ethics are canvassed. The orientation of this article is essentially Australian. It is hoped that it may provide some insights of value to other countries.     

Selling French Films on Foreign Markets: The International Strategy of a Medium-Sized Film Company

Foreign markets largely shaped the business strategy of LesFilms Albatros, a medium-sized, internationally networked specialtyproducer of films in interwar France. Depending more on foreignrevenues than did the Hollywood studios, Albatros also realizedhigher gross returns. Because films were capital goods providinga perishable product (seats at a specific time), their pricedepended on both expected performance and the threshold ticket-sellingcapacity necessary to recoup cinema fixed costs; some filmscould not be sold at any price. Given the small potential marketfor its films, Albatros had to find an intricate balance betweenproducing at low cost and delivering films with at least thresholdticket-selling capacity. It did so by differentiating its films,entering film distribution in France, coproducing internationally,and cooperating with Pathé and Gaumont, the two largestFrench film companies. While its larger European rivals wereobsessed with operational effectiveness vis-à-vis Hollywood,Albatros, by adopting a distinct strategic position, hardlyhad to pay attention to operational effectiveness at all. Itwas making a differentiated product for needs unserved by Hollywood.     

Prohibitive Voice as a Moral Act: The Role of Moral Identity,Leaders, and Workgroups

Employees’ may view prohibitive voice—that is, expressing concerns about harmful practices in the workplace—as a moral yet interpersonally risky behavior. We, thus, predict that prohibitive voice is likely to be influenced by variables associated with moral and relational qualities. Specifically, we hypothesize that employees’ moral identity internalization—i.e., the centrality of moral traits in their self-concept—is positively associated with their use of prohibitive voice. Furthermore, we hypothesize that this association is stronger when employees enjoy a higher quality relationship with their leader (leader-member exchange). In addition, drawing on the literature on moral symbolism, we hypothesize that workgroup moral identity symbolization—i.e., the extent to which workgroup members symbolically display moral traits—moderates the relationship between moral identity internalization and prohibitive voice in a compensatory manner. That is, workgroup moral identity symbolization enhances employees’ use of prohibitive voice when employees’ moral identity internalization is low. Data collected from hospital employees and their supervisors and coworkers support these hypotheses. These findings suggest new ways to promote prohibitive voice and, thereby, protect organizational stakeholders from harmful behaviors.

     

The Role of Advertising in the Marketing Strategy of Accountancy Firms: Evidence from a Regional Market

Rules governing the advertising activity of accountancy firms have recently been relaxed. Published evidence is, however, scant regarding the perceived value of accountancy firms' advertising by both users of their services and by business advisers. Building on a conceptual model of the role of advertising in accountancy firms described in an earlier issue of this journal [Watkins and Wright, Service Industries Journal, Vol. 5, No. 3, November 19851, this article presents some results from a recent survey of a regional accountancy market. These results show that a careful examination of advertising within the overall marketing mix is required, with other forms of marketing perhaps offering greater possibilities. The overall conclusion is that the cost-effectiveness of the advertising of accountancy services h s t be open to doubt.     

Information Exchange as a Means of Collusion: The Case of the Italian Car Insurance Market

This paper employs an econometric methodology (the Panzar-Rosse H-statistic) to test the level of competition in the Italian car insurance market, where in 2000 the Antitrust Authority imposed a conspicuous fine on 39 companies for their anti-competitive behavior deriving from an ad hoc information exchange from 1994 onwards. Our set of results shows that during the years 1998–2003 the group of firms whose business in the motor segment exceeds 60% of total gross premiums has earned revenues as if it were under monopoly or collusive oligopoly conditions, and therefore appears to support the decision of the Antitrust Authority.     

Supermercantilism as a European strategy: The road to stagnation

On the surface, Europe seems to be climbing out of the dreary post-1973 era, marked by anxiety, doubts, and shocks, to a new “1960s”: economic growth, declining inflation, new consumer gadgets to enjoy. But the medium-term outlook is more disturbing than the euphoria engendered by a temporary economic upswing would suggest. While the general introduction of technologies matured in past decades seems to usher in a new era of creativeness in our economies, the overall economic policy context, expressly designed to foster such creativeness, bears the seeds of profound disequilibria.     

Convergence Rates to Output Growth in a Global World: The Roles of Openness and Government Size

In this article, we examine the effects of three openness measures on 54 industrial and emerging economies' output growth over the “globalization years” of 1986–2004. Controlling for standard determinants of the Solow growth model in panel data, we find positive effects of openness on real output growth. While we find support for higher convergence rates under the open economy, the convergence rates in this article for both samples are remarkably close to the 2% level documented in Mankiw et al. (1992) Mankiw, G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. 1992. A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2): 407–437. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. The inclusion of G/Y, however, reduces the speed of convergence more substantially in industrial economies.     

The Retailing Literature as a Basis for Franchising Research: Using Intellectual Structure to Advance Theory

This study evaluates the foundational intellectual structure of franchising research over the last four decades. Based on 1718 articles from a sample of 40 journals, we use co-citation analysis, employed in both multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, to evaluate 67,073 citations and determine the theoretical underpinnings of franchising research. As the results indicate, the retailing literature has had an integral influence on studies related to franchising. To advance this research domain, we develop a three-dimensional typology (franchise structure, consumer exchange, and strategic intention) based on established and emergent franchise-related topics. The typology indicates six suggested topics for examination to advance franchising research based on the domain's accomplishments to date.     

The Face of Fairness: Self-Awareness as a Means to Promote Fairness among Managers with Low Empathy

Although managing fairness is a critical concern for organizations, not all managers are predisposed to enact high levels of fairness. Emerging empirical evidence suggests that personality characteristics can be an important antecedent of managers’ fair behavior. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to understand how to promote fairness among managers who are naturally predisposed to engage in lower levels of fairness. Building upon self-awareness theory, we argue that increasing managers’ self-awareness can motivate managers with low trait empathy to engage in greater levels of justice. We test the interactive effects of trait empathy and state self-awareness using an experimental study (N = 76) in which individuals were asked to communicate negative news. In support of our hypothesis, our results indicate that increasing self-awareness through self-focusing situations can help promote interactional justice when communicating negative news for individuals with low trait empathy. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.