Since the evolution of society and trade individuals have tried to find shortcuts and easier in some cases even immoral ways to get advantage over their competitors and rivals. To this day the practice continues and it has evolved and taken new suitable forms. The act itself includes two parties willing to go against moral norms and even legal terms in exchange for mutual benefit. Such acts have become known as bribery which is best described by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.
In modern society bribery and corruption remain a persistent and widespread problem for both business and government.…show more content… Economic development apparently leads to lower levels of corruption, and corruption appears to inhibit economic growth. . Advanced economies are likely to have more robust institutions, including well-established laws and policies to address corporate behaviour, while developing economies suffer from poorer investigative and enforcement mechanisms. In poorer countries, officials may see bribery as a necessary means of supplementing low income. Wealthier countries are characterised by higher levels of education, literacy, and growth of mass media, which have been found to be associated with less corruption. These characteristics of wealthy countries allow for countervailing actions by the person faced with bribery demands. This doesn’t exclude “rich and developed” counties. Far from it. As Professor Robert Neild from Trinity College, Cambridge University writes in Public Corruption; The Dark Side of Social Evolution (London: Anthem Press, 2002):“Rich countries and their agencies … commonly have been and are accomplices in corruption abroad, encouraging it by their actions rather than impeding it….” .The problem lies in the governmental definition of bribery and recognition of same especially on the international level in cases of multinational companies. For multinational companies, bribery enables companies to gain contracts (particularly for public works and military equipment) or concessions which they would not otherwise have won, or to do so on more favourable terms. Every year, Western businesses pay huge amounts of money in bribes to win friends, influence and contracts. These bribes are conservatively estimated to run to US$80 billion a year—roughly the amount that the UN believes is needed to eradicate global poverty. These practises are common among multination companies and also hard to detect. Such practise and the problem that lies within was best described by Dr.