Introduction

Corruption in business is a stubborn problem. Everyone knows it is a bad thing, but that doesn't seem to stop it happening, for the very simple reason that, like it or not, companies win business by paying bribes. They have always done so, and they would not do it if it didn't pay. But this is a very high-risk game, particularly at a time when enforcement authorities in the US and many European countries have made the cost of getting caught much higher than it used to be. Why is corruption so dangerous? For one, it costs money. This is not so much the cost of the illicit ...