The role of multinational corporations in disseminating ethical business conduct in emerging markets

Segev Shani (segevshani@neopharmgroup.com) is Chief Compliance & Regulatory Officer at Neopharm Ltd., Petach Tikva, and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Health Systems Management & School of Pharmacy at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel.

Worldwide, many acts and laws prohibit bribery, either internally in the enacting country’s territory or externally in other territories—the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) being the most known and enforceable law. As business organizations are implementing compliance programs in order to comply with all laws and regulations, one important aspect of such a program that is indirect and usually not taken as a consideration is the effect of the anti-bribery policy of organizations on their business environment.

The objective of this article is to discuss the role of multinational corporations in the markets in which they operate. Corporations that are heavily regulated must comply with the strictest requirements by the relevant regulatory authorities. I suggest that as these multinational corporations operate globally and apply the same ethical and compliant practices throughout their organizations, these companies act as agents of change and improvement in local markets where the anti-bribery policies and ethical business conduct are not regarded as a national priority or where the local authorities lack resources for disseminating and enforcing such policies.

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