1. Case Study

Your company has been trying for more than a year to obtain the assets of a formally government-owned petroleum business. However, the approval process and review of the contract documents have been held up for months in the government bureaucracy. An official approaches your Vice President of Acquisitions and suggests that if your company pays the expenses for a ten-day negotiating trip for himself and his family to Disney World and Miami, the approval process could be completed within one week.

Should your company authorize the expenditure?

Would your answer be different if it were a $200 fee to expedite the importation of your companys products into the country?