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The relationship between business integrity and commercial success

A sizeable and growing body of evidence has provided clear indication that, at the aggregate level, corruption is bad for business: aggregate growth and firm performance is lower in highly corrupt settings, while markets perform poorly when corporate corruption becomes commonplace compared to markets in which firms typically refrain from corrupt behaviour. A newer branch of research has sought to examine the costs and benefits of corporate corruption (typically bribery) for individual firms and demonstrates that, while there may occasionally be some short-term gains, the costs outweigh the benefits in the longer term. The evidence in terms of the costs and benefits of corporate integrity is somewhat sparser. Nonetheless, companies with anti-corruption programmes and strong ethical guidelines are found to suffer up to 50% fewer incidents of corruption than those without such programmes, indicating integrity programmes are an effective means of minimising losses which can be incurred as a result of corruption, especially where it is detected.

13 December 2017
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The relationship between business integrity and commercial success

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Jenkins, M. (2017) The relationship between business integrity and commercial success . Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2017:14)

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About the author

Matt Jenkins is a Research and Knowledge Manager at Transparency International, where he runs the Anti-Corruption Helpdesk, an on-demand bespoke research service for civil society activists and development practitioners. Jenkins specialises in anti-corruption evaluations and evidence reviews, he has produced studies for the OECD and the GIZ, and has worked at the European Commission and think tanks in Berlin and Hyderabad.

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This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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