Question

Daniel Wagner and Dante Disparte in The Huffington Post article (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. argue that "For the U.S. government to attempt to apply America’s definition of what constitutes acceptable business behavior — in America — in a one-size-fits-all approach to doing business abroad makes little sense in a world where no single standard effectively applies — to anything, and it runs counter to the government’s stated objective of making American business more globally competitive....[The FCPA] has ... served to place many U.S. businesses at a distinct comparative disadvantage in the global marketplace: The FCPA can make it more difficult for U.S. companies and individuals to be competitive internationally. While anti-corruption legislation has either been adopted, or is in the process of being adopted, in a number of other countries, many countries do not have such requirements, and in some countries, bribes are even tax deductible." Do you agree? Does the FCPA result in American businesses operating at a competitive disadvantage when competing and conducting business outside the United States? Why or why not?

Answer 1

If we look at global business and bribery problem, it’s not new. In US, if any foreign company wants to do business with US Company it have to follow the guidelines of FCPA. As the relation between law and business is not static, companies are constantly trying to beat their competitors and in this regard law seems to be an important subject. Business within the domestic boundary will not suffer as the law applies same to each business but suppose a Chinese company is looking to do business with US Company then the Chinese company has to comply with FCPA. If the companies do not comply with the FCPA then the American company will be automatically responsible for any kind of political and social corruption problem. Company has to satisfy US authorities if they want do business outside US which is one of the competitive disadvantage.