Countries with highest corruption rates have great potential to improve and develop sustainable, ethical business practices.
Stakeholders are inclined to support value-based projects and businesses in places where there is lack of such practices and operations. A recent study conducted in Egypt, India and Zimbabwe shows that organizations that operate under ethical principles have a greater chance to stand out and succeed in the battle against misdemeanor and unethical behavior and thus get support from customers.
However, entrepreneurs must make most of the situation by using all resources at disposal, as the media, the public, civic, religious and independent judiciary.
Experts at the University of Exeter Business School, China Europe International Business School and Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia found that operating ethically in a corrupt environment can be an opportunity for businesses to build a unique reputation and encourage people who have not fought to eradicate corruption to be supporters of ethical business.
At least 120 interviews covering five firms in India, Egypt and Zimbabwe have been carried out. The findings based on two of the firms are published in the Harvard Business Review and Journal of Management Studies.
“It isn’t enough just to behave ethically. Companies also need to get the support of the public and investors for their actions to gain a good reputation. Understanding how to do this is very important to new firms, especially from emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Nigeria, where weak institutional regimes and growing business opportunities combine to create opportunities for corruption. As globalization gathers steam, more and more companies will come across the challenge of how to deal effectively with corruption.”, professor William Harvey from the University of Exeter Business School, said.
Researchers studied the experiences of two companies that had tried to resist corruption in India and Zimbabwe and had been successful – Econet and Alacrity.
Read more at Phys.