Companies have been urged to make greater efforts to work with
non-governmental organizations on tackling corruption in countries with
weak governance.
Peter Eigen, head of Transparency International, told the annual
conference of the European Business Ethics Network (Eben) in Vienna
that companies should not just throw their hands up in despair at the
lack of will shown by some governments. ‘Large corporations have to
reach where national governments don’t, to create their own enabling
environment for ethical business,’ he said.
He told delegates that civil society organizations ‘can act as agents
of change’ by creating coalitions with the private sector, but that
companies must strengthen NGOs so they have a louder voice in affected
countries.
‘Many of these organizations are very weak, but it is worth companies
supporting them and helping them to become stronger, because they then
become valuable allies,’ he said. ‘There are NGOs that have really
grown because they were invited to the table by business – for example,
in China, where McKinsey and PricewaterhouseCoopers have helped NGOs
progress by lending staff expertise and time.’
On the other hand, NGOs were criticized at the conference for failing
to work closely enough with companies on social and environmental
issues. Klaus Leisinger, special adviser to the UN Global Compact, said
too many took a critical line and offered no solutions. ‘I’m hoping
companies get a more differentiated response from NGOs in future,’ he
said. ‘They seem very decided on being against the corporate sector.’
One in three international companies believe they have failed to win
new business in the past year because their competitors have offered
bribes, according to a new survey by Control Risks and Simmons &
Simmons.
Companies in the UK can expect a tougher line on corruption from this
month as the result of the establishment of a joint Metropolitan Police
and City of London investigative team on corporate corruption. The team
was set up partly as a result of complaints by Transparency
International that Britain has failed to follow up evidence of bribery
by UK companies abroad.
