"Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, orduplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may besuppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressedcontent does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves theright to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.608 Part 5: CasesCONCLUSIONIt should be clear that bribery is a major ethical concern throughout the world. While manydeveloped countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have enacted laws toprevent bribery, in many other countries bribery is a part of the culture. This is because basicpolitical, economic, and social institutions provide conventions for what is acceptable. If briberyis seen as an acceptable way to conduct business, then it will be more prevalent within a society.Bribery is considered to be unacceptable in many countries because it interferes with fairness inbusiness relationships. It is also seen as stifling free competition and possibly resulting ininflated prices for consumers. Additionally, bribery creates conflicts of interest—for example,when an employee takes a bribe to gain a favorable position. The companies given as examplesin this case demonstrate that even highly respected businesses have difficulty fighting againstbribery. This is because pressure is placed on many businesses to make payments in order to gainaccess to markets. An important takeaway is that many areas of bribery are gray areas becauseminor gifts or entertainment, while generally acceptable, can be questioned by stakeholders.QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION1. What are the differences between the provisions of the United States Foreign CorruptPractices Act and the United Kingdom Bribery Act? 2. Check for more recent situations where companies have been accused of violating the ForeignCorrupt Practices Act. Why do you think these companies chose to engage in bribery? 3. Why is it so difficult to determine when a minor gift, entertainment, or incentive constitutes abribe? "