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Confronting Corrupt Practices: Maintaining a Moral Compass in International Business

By Joe Danowsky
May 31, 2007

Hide a dagger in a smile. Murder with a borrowed knife. Loot a burning house. If you cannot anticipate these and the other classic 'Thirty-Six Stratagems' that are widely studied and practiced in China, you may be perilously unprepared to pursue business, including legal business, in the world's largest market. And while China may be an extreme example, analogs of these deceptive and sometimes corrupt practices appear in other cultures worldwide.

Decent business people need to understand corrupt business tactics for defensive purposes, but those who focus only on 'learning to play the game' face a severe moral hazard. They may well find themselves characterized by Nietzsche's epigram: becoming a dragon in the process of fighting dragons. To avoid that fate, you and your organization need to have a moral compass to begin with, and you need to take steps to keep it true.

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