This post originally appeared on Corporate Compliance Trends.
In many countries, fighting corruption seems to be an impossible battle, especially for mid-sized companies with limited resources. While there is a broad global consensus that corruption suppresses competition and innovation, thus hampering entrepreneurship and economic growth opportunities, countering it presents a challenging task due to resistance to reform in corruption-tainted business environments. In many cases anti-corruption rules and regulations may be weak or unevenly enforced, government-led steps to fight corruption remain insufficient or ineffective, and bribes are a widely accepted part of doing business.
Yet businesses committed to anti-corruption are not helpless. They can lead by example by improving their own safeguards against corruption and act together to create a movement for integrity that makes clean business conduct the norm, not the exception.
In today’s globalized world, where international value chains stretch across borders and continents, anti-corruption compliance provides a vital competitive advantage. Ethical companies tend to have higher valuations, are more attractive to potential investors and employees, and are more likely to be engaged in long-term arrangements with their business partners. Increasingly, companies are expected to ensure not just the integrity of their own operations but also the conduct of their suppliers, distributors, and agents wherever they may be. Evidence of this comes from high-profile prosecutions of multinational firms that are not only subject to significant fines but also risk loss of share value and reputation.
CIPE’s newest publication, Anti-Corruption Compliance: A Guide for Mid-Sized Companies in Emerging Markets, is meant to help local companies around the world think about anti-corruption compliance as a strategic investment and take concrete steps to introduce or strengthen their internal compliance programs. Going forward, the guidebook will serve as the basis for CIPE training and capacity building initiatives for businesses in countries ranging from Kenya to Pakistan and Ukraine where, despite persistent challenges, many companies already are a part of global value chains or aspire to join them. In order to be competitive, they need tools outlined in the CIPE guidebook to translate their commitment to integrity into the day-to-day business operations. Stay tuned for the country updates!
Click here to get the guidebook.
Anna Nadgrodkiewicz is Director of Multiregional Programs at CIPE.
