Re: Bribing Corporate Clients; was Billing Problems...

Subject: Re: Bribing Corporate Clients; was Billing Problems...
From: Alex MacDonald <Alexander -dot- MacDonald -at- ABNAMRO -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 17:06:26 -0600

Tom Johnson wrote:
>I read a policy written by a CEO of one of the biggest corporations in
the >USA. His goal was to run the business so there would be no chance
anyone
>could accuse his company of an unethical or unfair practice between
>vendors and his corporation.

>How can a corporation trust a vendor who is willing to resort to
bribery
>to get his foot in the door? If I were a CEO, I would have serious
doubts >about any relationship built on anything dishonest.


This guy must have been the CEO of Utopia Incorporated on Mars, because
this kind of "bribery", if we really need to use that word, is
practiced by
every other person I have ever met. Doing favors, or collecting debts,
as
they say, is how things get done...in business, in politics, in our
family
lives...everywhere. You do something nice for me, I'll do something
nice
for you. Unethical? Maybe.

What if a vendor brings in a box of doughnuts? "I'm sorry Mr.
Widgetseller
but it would be extremely dishonest of me if I ate that French Curl.
And,
boy, if my boss ever found out about that coffee cup you gave me last
week, I'd be in the unemployment line." Certainly there is an ethical
line somewhere, but I am quite reluctant to use the words "bribery" and
"dishonesty" when talking about accepting lunches, dinners or tickets
to sporting events. When I think bribery and dishonesty I think about
Payola, about slipping a cop a fifty when you get pulled over, about
aldermen, and maybe, just maybe, but not necessarily, padding an
expense account.

I should probably mention that I'm from Chicago, where bribery isn't
just unethical, it's a constitutional right.

Alexander MacDonald
alexander -dot- macdonald -at- abnamro -dot- com
This opinion, more so than most, is my own.




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