Walmart and Ethics Article Summary
Samuel Halley
10/16/2012
ACCT 2110
Wal-Mart and Ethics
The article was acquired from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2999, titled Everyone’s Problem: Looking Beyond the Wal-Mart Bribery Case. This is article’s purpose is to show how common bribing of public officials is using Wal-Mart’s case as an example. Wal-Mart is still having issues building up their ethical perception to the public. They had many shareholders investing in Mexico and these shareholders wanted answers on why the bribery was overlooked by upper management. The article gives many examples of countries that regularly participate in acts of some kind of bribery or countries where it is socially accepted. Many researchers believe this bribery is hard to track because people won’t speak up and most activity happens under the table. However, ‘Shaun Donnelly, vice president of investment and financial services at the United States Council for International Business, a New York City-based nonprofit, says that “the trend is in the positive direction.... The public sentiment is that bribery is not an acceptable way to do business.” ‘(1) On the other side of things William s. Laufer, Wharton Professor of legal studies in business ethics, thinks that even with increased FCPA enforcement that acts of bribery of public officials is still on the rise. In the case of Wal-Mart the only excuse to remotely explain these acts would be the difference in culture, and what is and is not socially expectable. This article argues that corporate political influence can increase acts of bribery.
The authors of this article used appropriate examples and sources for their facts, and the quotes throughout the article were from people with prestige. I enjoyed this article and as a publisher I would print because it brings about factual evidence supporting a claim that there is an unseen uprising in bribery involving public officials. I believe a point was reached in that the case of Wal-Mart was
10/16/2012
ACCT 2110
Wal-Mart and Ethics
The article was acquired from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2999, titled Everyone’s Problem: Looking Beyond the Wal-Mart Bribery Case. This is article’s purpose is to show how common bribing of public officials is using Wal-Mart’s case as an example. Wal-Mart is still having issues building up their ethical perception to the public. They had many shareholders investing in Mexico and these shareholders wanted answers on why the bribery was overlooked by upper management. The article gives many examples of countries that regularly participate in acts of some kind of bribery or countries where it is socially accepted. Many researchers believe this bribery is hard to track because people won’t speak up and most activity happens under the table. However, ‘Shaun Donnelly, vice president of investment and financial services at the United States Council for International Business, a New York City-based nonprofit, says that “the trend is in the positive direction.... The public sentiment is that bribery is not an acceptable way to do business.” ‘(1) On the other side of things William s. Laufer, Wharton Professor of legal studies in business ethics, thinks that even with increased FCPA enforcement that acts of bribery of public officials is still on the rise. In the case of Wal-Mart the only excuse to remotely explain these acts would be the difference in culture, and what is and is not socially expectable. This article argues that corporate political influence can increase acts of bribery.
The authors of this article used appropriate examples and sources for their facts, and the quotes throughout the article were from people with prestige. I enjoyed this article and as a publisher I would print because it brings about factual evidence supporting a claim that there is an unseen uprising in bribery involving public officials. I believe a point was reached in that the case of Wal-Mart was