Publications

December 1995
Case

Assessing Foreign Business Practices

By: Debora L. Spar

As businesses expand worldwide, corporations are increasingly being forced to grapple with definitions of "acceptable" foreign conduct. What differentiates a "bribe" from a "commission"? Should managers abroad refer to local custom or their own national laws in... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

December 2018
Teaching Note

An Innovative Anti-bribery Commitment?

By: Eugene Soltes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 119-039. View Details

Keywords: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; UK Bribery Legislation; Law; Leadership; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States; United Kingdom; Asia

July 2008 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Corruption in Germany

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Jonathan Schlefer

Why do managers become corrupt? Does corruption ever pay? When do friendly relations cross into bribery? How can CEOs manage and prevent outbreaks of corruption? These and other questions are raised by three short case studies of corruption in Germany: at the global... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Law; Managerial Roles; Practice; Conflict of Interests; Germany

24 Nov 2014
Research & Ideas

Corrupting Silence: Companies Must Speak Up Against Bribes

after, but there is still plenty of clean business they can." Their experience is supported by companies including GE, Statoil, and Fluor that have drawn a bright line internally against paying to play in foreign countries and that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

with a small group to see whether we can tighten some of the enforcement or provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the OECD treaty... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Foreign Multinationals in the U.S.: A Rocky Road

seen as an "American dream" ... but in practice it is one of the toughest in the world.— Geoffrey Jones However, the U.S. business environment seems to be becoming more unpredictable and hence riskier for View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston & Martha Lagace

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Asia and Foreign Direct Investment

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is often lauded for bringing economic growth and know-how to developing countries. The conventional wisdom is not necessarily wrong, but the real story is much more nuanced than is commonly believed, says... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Supplement

Dow Corning Corporation: Business Conduct and Global Values (A), Supplement

By: Lynn S. Paine

Describes the 1988 amendments to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Law; Crime and Corruption; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

23 Aug 2021
News

Life After White-Collar Crime

November 2001
Background Note

Global Approaches to Anti-Corruption

By: Joseph Hinsey, Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

In the 1970s, a series of unpleasant revelations about corporate conduct, culminating in the public disclosure about unsavory business practices abroad by more than 400 U.S. corporations, jarred popular perceptions concerning business ethics. Congress responded by... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Globalization; Developing Countries and Economies; Laws and Statutes; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information Industry; United States

2021
Working Paper

The Political Economy of Anti-Bribery Enforcement

By: Lauren Cohen and Bo Li

This paper documents novel evidence on the influence of political incentives in the regulatory enforcement of foreign bribery. Using exogenous variation in the timing and geographic location of U.S. Congressional elections, we find that the probability of a Foreign... View Details

Keywords: Bribery; Regulatory Enforcement; Crime and Corruption; Governance Controls; Political Elections

Read Now

18 Jul 2011
News

Rupert Murdoch and the News about Honor (or the Lack Thereof)

24 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 24

Watson Publication:In Effective Auditing for Corporates: Key Developments in Practice and Procedures, edited by Joe Oringel, 161-178. London: Bloomsbury Information Ltd., 2012 Abstract In the wake of the recent financial crisis,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2010
Chapter

Backlash to Arbitration: Three Causes

By: Louis T. Wells

There are at least three reasons for the current backlash among developing countries against the international regime that governs disputes between foreign investors and host governments. First is the inconsistency of the decisions rendered by arbitration panels... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Conflict Management