International Bribery.

I had a friend who works as a representative in Beijing, China for a big company in Europe. He expressed the complexity of working in totally different environments and culture, similar to the case we discussed in the class. As a native Chinese, he knows quite well that, to finish projects more smoothly and efficiently, relation is indispensable. This doesn’t mean simple networking, but implies “networking” through luxury dinners, entertainment and “gifts”. He tried to inform the situation to his boss in Europe, actually hoping to get support and “sponsorship” for the process. However, this was a big shock to other people, who seriously considered this activity as bribery. They tried to do things their way, without treating some related Chinese government people specially; the results were not positive. My friend said people involved in the case in the company are still struggling about this.

I think this is a very typical in the world business now, since a lot of international industry is going on. Although most countries, such as China, are trying their best to combat bribery by severely punishing people involved, still this is quite popular around the world. How multinational/multicultural corporation adapts this or deal with this is critical to their business, as well as the economy of the country. Should we have some specific laws or rules about this issue in the companies, even making this “dirty” work as part of the business plan? Meanwhile everybody should consider about how to end the corruption/bribery, which has both demand and supply sides all the time. I know it’s hard and will definitely take long time.