Investigating the Impact of Anti-Corruption Strategies on International Business: An Interim Report

The detrimental impact of corruption on society and economic well-being in both developed and developing countries is well established. International business provides ample opportunity for engaging in a variety of corrupt activities, from bribing of public officials and others in positions of power for obtaining contracts, licences and tax concessions to price fixing and bid rigging. Increased awareness of the negative impact of corruption has over recent years led to the introduction of a broad spectrum of measures designed to combat corruption including in the private sector. These measures involve a range of stakeholders and regulatory approaches (both legal and non-legal). The essential questions now concern the extent to which these are achieving their objectives in terms of tackling corruption. This Interim Report starts with a discussion of the current anti-corruption framework and then proceeds with an examination of the available empirical research to establish how corruption in the business sector is addressed. Though these earlier surveys usefully highlight some general themes they are not directly comparable, provide only a limited understanding of the issue, and raise many unanswered questions. Sections 2 and 3 of this Report thus provide the context for the present authors’ own survey. Sections 4 and 5 discuss in detail the design and implementation of this survey (to date), which aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the extent to which key stakeholders are aware of and respond to different anti-corruption measures, the activities they are involved in for the purpose of combating corruption, and the factors which influence their behaviour in relation to corruption. As well as providing valuable insights with respect to company views and experiences this research is unique in also surveying NGOs. The findings of this research project should therefore lead to a greater understanding of stakeholder practices and perceptions, and consequently of how anti-corruption efforts might be strengthened. Whilst it would be premature to draw conclusions at this pilot stage, the findings of the pilot survey discussed in Section 6 highlight the value of investigating stakeholder views in this way, as well as raising some interesting possibilities regarding assumptions about their actions and motivations and additional questions for the next phase of the survey