Imagine you are the director of global business development for a large Swedish

Question

Imagine you are the director of global business development for a large Swedish engineering company that wants to win a contract to build roads in Kenya, a project funded by the World Bank. You need to develop a relationship with the Ministry of Transportation in Kenya. Using what you learned in this course, discuss how you would handle a situation in which your firm wants to win the contract but has been directly asked for a bribe by a local official in charge of the decision making. Imagine that your competitors are from other countries, some of which are less concerned about the ethics of gift giving. Given what you have read in this course, how can you still win business in such a situation? What would you advise your senior management?

Explanation / Answer

Accepting and giving bribes in course of business is not ethical and the organization should not enter into such practices as it hampers the reputation of the organization in the long run, spoils the culture and also sets an incorrect example in front of the employees who will try to adopt unethical means to achieve their targets.
It is always better to win the contracts through ethical means. Some of the strategies that can be adopted by the senior management to win the contract are:
1. Leverage the long term relationships built with various people in the industry
2. Getting positive references from previous customers
3. Using market goodwill
4. Quoting a low project price by trying to cut cost and profits as well
By adopting the above strategies, efforts can be taken to win the business.

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