Corruption and Multi-National Corporations Essay

Corruption and Multi-National Corporations - Essay Example Legally, facilitation payment is not allowed in the United Kingdom. However, it is allowed legally to certain extent in the United States (Special Cases, 2009). The issue of facilitation payment becomes specially challenging when doing business with a foreign country. The laws in a different country may or may not be similar to those your own country. Hence, this issue has to be studied clearly and carefully before deciding on its legal implications. Multi-national corporations operate in different countries all over the world. So it is not possible for them to work under one set of rules. Their memorandum of association must tally with the laws and customs of the host countries. They also have to do business with customers in the host countries as well as overseas. This makes the situation of facilitation payments more complicated if flexibility is not maintained (Special Cases, 2009). Research show that majority of multi-nationals have indulged in facilitation payments although they same majority would prefer not to make these payments. This is a catch-22 situation with the giver and taker harboring guilty conscience and yet performing the act in the larger interest of business (Gordon, Kathryn and Miyake, Maiko; 2001, p3) "Bribes can come in all sizes. ... ch-22 situation with the giver and taker harboring guilty conscience and yet performing the act in the larger interest of business (Gordon, Kathryn and Miyake, Maiko; 2001, p3) "Bribes can come in all sizes. The media likes to highlight the more flagrant examples, but the smaller, everyday forms often go undetected. In the past, governments have overlooked facilitation payments. Western lawmakers assumed that such payments were simply unavoidable, a necessary part of doing business abroad" (Wrage, Alexandra; 2009). Nonetheless, the issue does not stop at that. Time and again, facilitation payments have reached the courts and resulted in destabilizing outcomes. Daewoo is an example of a major multi-national firm collapsing owing to financial irregularities (Daewoo corruption scandal deepens, 2001). However, facilitation payments continue to be made the world over. How do these payments reflect in the eyes of the law Morally, facilitation payments, whether big or small, are wrong. But these payments are given and received in different and ambiguous ways and bypass the law. They may simply be given under the nomenclature of a gift or in the form of entertainment. International businesses have accepted it as a necessary evil. And it does appear that it is prospected to stay this way for a very long time to come (D'Ascenzo, Michael; 2008). By and large, in most countries, facilitation payments are tolerated if the sum involved is small. Nobody is inclined to run to the courts on small amounts spent on getting business. However, it is large facilitation amounts that can cause trouble. Large amounts not only cause legal hassles, they can even destabilize the concerned corporation. It is not healthy for large corporations to be paying out large facilitation amounts as these