Siemens Bribery Case

Ian Collins check into of Global Business Professor Portillo BSAD 113W 18 February 2013 Assignment 3 southward Bribery Scandal Before 1999 the use of grafting in Germany was not illegal and could be deducted as a telephone circuit expense in a companys taxes. This allowed companies like entropy to gain the upper berth hand and have an unfair advantage over their competition in acquiring pipeline deals around the world. Then when the law changed, Siemens solace utilized bribery, and employed bribery tactics in other countries where it was in addition illegal.In this case study Im going to analyze the principle and high levels of corruption that transpired in the Siemens bribery scandal and utilize the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to illustrate the blackball impact of bribery. Siemens use of bribery initially could have been justify by the fact that German laws allowed it and was not illegal until 1999 the issue was that Siemens continued to use bribery even after the law had changed.Corruption was late embedded in the business culture. Siemens transferred money into Swiss brink accounts to avoid detection and then hired contractors to set up the bribes. These actions were shopworn operating procedures for corporate executives who viewed bribery as a business strategy. aged(a) executives even made certain individuals that were directly in charge of the bribery funds sign compliance forms stating they had not put awayd in that large-minded of activity, bribes were referred to as useful money.The punishment Siemens faced involved paying(a) fines totaling $2. 6 billion. In the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which sets self-imposed principles and standards for business conduct, clearly outlines the negative aspects that comes from bribery. Bribery and corruption are damaging to democratic institutions and the governance of corporations. They discourage investment and distort international warring conditions.In particular, the diversion of funds through corrupt practices undermines attempts by citizens to achieve higher(prenominal) levels of economic, social and environmental welfare, and it impedes efforts to reduce poverty. Enterprises have an important role to assemble in combating these practices. In defense of the Siemens employees, many of them just believed that was how business was done and had the best interests of the company at heart. It was about keeping the business alive and not jeopardizing thousands of jobs, if this indicates the intention of the employees then the act is more justifiable than just doing the action out of cupidity. Siemens is a company that allowed greed to cloud their judgement to use bribery to gain the upper hand, as well as not evolving with the changing laws. You can only say as to the real thought process behind the choice to engage in brib ery, whether it was done knowingly to gain an unfair advantage or sincerely to protect the jobs of many employees, the action was still committed.A company necessitate to be aware of the laws, regulations and what is considered acceptable business conduct of the other countries it chooses to do business with and not violate them, including the use of bribery. 1 . http//lilymayunjue. blogspot. com/2012/06/summary-of-siemens-bribery. html 2 . http//www. nytimes. com/2008/12/16/business/worldbusiness/16siemens. html? _r=0 3 . http//www. oecd. org/daf/inv/mne/48004323. pdf 4 . Article Siemens Bribery Scandal