ABSTRACT
Although this is clearly an ethical issue as well, abundantly dealt within a moral/legal North American approach, the author feels that the subject is best keep for the end, for a discussion that applies a more pragmatic approach. By chance, bribery (to call it by it’s name) is not only “bad” according to our moral and legal – but highly relative – cultural standards: it is also extremely detrimental to the interests of the client company. Whatever his purchasing knowledge and skills may be, a bribed buyer will privilege his own interests. How should this be approached by a teacher in a lecture hall with dozens of students from various cultures, where “backschish,” “mordida,” “commission” and so on, are common practice? Cultures where a “honest” buyer is defined as the one who shares the bribe in transparency with his boss?
