Corruption and business in present day Venezuela

Venezuelan media present corruption as a major problem of the country and a research conducted by the author shows managers perceive it as business ethics' main issue. The corruption type addressed to in this article is the collusion between public officials and private managers for illegal or undue profits. Corruption in this form is related to the long-standing policy of State intervention and overregulation of the economy in order to industrialize the country. The issue analyzed is the perception of corruption as a major political and social problem. Corruption is pervasive in many societies but it is not perceived as a central problem. The explanation for this perception in Venezuela is the increased impoverishment of people as a consequence of present economic crisis (the corrupt person is perceived as taking from my pocket) and the openness and pluralistic character of the political system. Moral indignation and scandal is the result of this new feature of Venezuelan society. Changes in the economic policies and the awareness of corruption seem to establish the basis to overcome the perception of corruption as the paramount problem it is now.Rogelio Perez Perdomo is Professor at IESA, Caracas. He is trained in law, philosophy and sociology. He was called to create the Sanchez chair of business ethics at IESA. He has taught in Europe, United States and Latin America and has published extensively mostly on sociology of law.This study arose as part of the preparations for setting up a chair of business ethics in IESA. I would like to thank M. Naim and R. Piñango for our conversations which guided me in my work. Thanks to J. Malavé for his help in designing the questionnaire and for his careful comments on the first draft. H. Gómez, E. Granell, A. Francés and E. Pacheco also read the first draft and made some useful comments. C. Portela and A. Ruiz helped in the data processing. H. Njaim and E. Blankenburg gave me the chance of discussing their own studies on corruption. But first of all I should have thanked all those involved in corruption scandals who have made me think constantly on this theme, which is a real challenge for a researcher.