All India Management Association (AIMA) 2007 M.B.A Marketing Management Business Ethics

Deceptive info
Deceptive info about products and services often leads customers to select goods and services that they would not have chosen if they had access to right info. Such misleading info reduces customer satisfaction as the products and services fail to meet customer expectations.
Theft
Theft compels (he marketer or supplier to increase his product price to make up for his losses due to theft. Many power transmission companies arc the major victims of theft. These companies are accumulating losses because of widespread theft of power by corporations and individuals. The scale of theft is now compelling many state run electricity boards to pass on these costs to consumers or to move out of business.
Bribery
Bribery involves offering or receiving something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties. A bribe induces the decision maker to select an option that may bring him a few personal gain, but may not ready be best one.
Today many businesses are indulging in bribing the decision makers to lake decisions in their favor. Bribes may take the form of kickback, expensive sponsorships for travel aboard, parties, etc. Bribery distorts the market system as the cost of the bribe is built into the cost of the project or the final product. A contractor who bags a project to build a dam by bribing the concerned officials may try to make up for this expense by using low quality inputs.
Bribery, of course, is the most widespread form of corruption, and corporate strategies for dealing with bribe requests vary. According to Nichols, a few companies opt to pay, sometimes damaging their public images and making it more difficult to refuse future requests. Others have the sheer bulk and revenues to successfully and consistently say “no.”
A key, Nichols suggests, is wiring this no-bribe ideal into a corporation’s culture, starting with a corporate code for managers and employees, affiliates and potential business partners. But coming to grips with what appears to be an international groundswell of corruption is far from a simple matter. Nichols believes that unraveling and explaining the mechanics of corruption is critical to helping the growing body of government and corporate organizations trying to fight it.
On a practical level, what does the upswing in international corruption mean to a company? “The fact that a great number of government officials in a great number of countries, including a few potentially large markets, seem to demand bribes is critical to any business that has a cross-border presence,” says Nichols. “Then there’s the reality that more than 20 nations, including the wealthiest and most-active trading nations, have made bribe paying illegal, and the fact that despite this there are still competitors who will pay bribes.

Earning:   Approval pending.