IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/ejlwec/v35y2013i3p349-366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corrupt intermediaries in international business transactions: between make, buy and reform

Author

Listed:
  • Johann Graf Lambsdorff

Abstract

Attempts to deter corruption have little recognized the operation of intermediaries. This study takes a New Institutional Economic-perspective, supported by a variety of case studies, to identify firms’ choices of when to engage corrupt intermediaries (buy) and how to approach reform. It argues that firms should be held unbendingly liable for the operation of their intermediaries. Reform may also focus on certifying “good” intermediaries and holding the certifier liable for the performance of its agents. Prohibiting intermediaries is not advisable, as intermediation can be either arranged in-house (make) or mixed with legal services. Registration and auditing of intermediaries provides a more promising avenue for reform. Legislators should balance the additional regulatory burden by granting a wage premium to registered intermediaries and denying legal recourse to unregistered competitors. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Johann Graf Lambsdorff, 2013. "Corrupt intermediaries in international business transactions: between make, buy and reform," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 349-366, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:35:y:2013:i:3:p:349-366
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-010-9214-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10657-010-9214-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10657-010-9214-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lambert-Mogiliansky, Ariane & Majumdar, Mukul & Radner, Roy, 2007. "Strategic analysis of petty corruption: Entrepreneurs and bureaucrats," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 351-367, July.
    2. Hasker, Kevin & Okten, Cagla, 2008. "Intermediaries and corruption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 103-115, July.
    3. Campos, Nauro F. & Estrin, Saul & Proto, Eugenio, 2010. "Corruption as a Barrier to Entry: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5243, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky & Mukul Majumdar & Roy Radner, 2007. "Strategic Analysis of Petty Corruption: Bureaucrats and Entrepreneurs," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00754220, HAL.
    5. Mohsin Habib & Leon Zurawicki, 2002. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 291-307, June.
    6. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2008. "The effectiveness of laws against bribery abroad," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 634-651, June.
    7. Strausz, Roland, 2005. "Honest certification and the threat of capture," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 45-62, February.
    8. Laufer, William S., 2006. "Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226470405, September.
    9. Ahn, JaeBin & Khandelwal, Amit K. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "The role of intermediaries in facilitating trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 73-85, May.
    10. Greif, Avner, 1993. "Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 525-548, June.
    11. James E. Rauch & Joel Watson, 2004. "Network Intermediaries in International Trade," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 69-93, March.
    12. Klaus Uhlenbruck & Peter Rodriguez & Jonathan Doh & Lorraine Eden, 2006. "The Impact of Corruption on Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 402-414, June.
    13. Theodore H. Moran, 2006. "How Multinational Investors Evade Developed Country Laws," Working Papers 79, Center for Global Development.
    14. Lambsdorff,Johann Graf, 2007. "The Institutional Economics of Corruption and Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521872751.
    15. Mike W Peng & Anne S York, 2001. "Behind Intermediary Performance in Export Trade: Transactions, Agents, and Resources," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(2), pages 327-346, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vita, Giuseppe Di, 2021. "Political corruption and legislative complexity: Two sides of same coin?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 136-147.
    2. Bayar, Güzin, 2014. "Spurious middlemen in corrupt transactions," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-32.
    3. Michael A Sartor & Paul W Beamish, 2018. "Host market government corruption and the equity-based foreign entry strategies of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 346-370, April.
    4. Mohammad Heydari & Kin Keung Lai & Victor Shi & Feng Xiao, 2023. "Public Health Risk Evaluation through Mathematical Optimization in the Process of PPPs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Joseph Ouma Oindo, 2021. "Engaging in and Coping with Bribery by the Bodaboda Riders in Kisii town, Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(3), pages 351-357, March.
    6. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    7. Andrews, Matt & Harrington, Peter, 2016. "Off Pitch: Football's Financial Integrity Weaknesses, and How to Strengthen Them," Working Paper Series 16-009, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    8. Oana Borcan & Nikita Grabher-Meyer & Stephanie Heger & Amrish Patel, 2023. "Right in the Middle: A Field Experiment On The Role Of Integrity Training And Norms In Combating Corruption," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2023-05, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Graf Lambsdorff, Johann, 2010. "Deterrence and constrained enforcement: Alternative regimes to deal with bribery," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-60-10, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    2. Di Guardo, Maria Chiara & Marrocu, Emanuela & Paci, Raffaele, 2016. "The effect of local corruption on ownership strategy in cross-border mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4225-4241.
    3. Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky & Mukul Majumdar & Roy Radner, 2009. "Strategic analysis of petty corruption with an intermediary," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 13(1), pages 45-57, April.
    4. Michael A Sartor & Paul W Beamish, 2018. "Host market government corruption and the equity-based foreign entry strategies of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 346-370, April.
    5. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Engberg, Erik & Halvarsson, Daniel & Kokko, Ari & Tingvall, Patrik, 2019. "Wholesale firms: A catalyst for Swedish exports?," Ratio Working Papers 328, The Ratio Institute.
    6. Jain, Pankaj K. & Kuvvet, Emre & Pagano, Michael S., 2017. "Corruption’s impact on foreign portfolio investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 23-35.
    7. Thede, Susanna & Karpaty, Patrik, 2023. "Effects of corruption on foreign direct investment: Evidence from Swedish multinational enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 348-371.
    8. Michael A. Sartor & Paul W. Beamish, 2020. "Private Sector Corruption, Public Sector Corruption and the Organizational Structure of Foreign Subsidiaries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 725-744, December.
    9. Jan Hanousek & Anastasiya Shamshur & Jan Svejnar & Jiri Tresl, 2021. "Corruption level and uncertainty, FDI and domestic investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1750-1774, December.
    10. Chengguang Li & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2022. "The impact of corruption on market reactions to international strategic alliances," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 187-202, February.
    11. Nunn, Nathan & Trefler, Daniel, 2014. "Domestic Institutions as a Source of Comparative Advantage," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 263-315, Elsevier.
    12. Yang, Jie, 2018. "Subnational Institutions and Location Choice of Emerging Market Firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 317-332.
    13. Yang, Jie & Mohammad, Shoeb, 2023. "Is the cure worse than the disease? The effect of emerging market MNEs on host country corruption," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    14. Michael A. Sartor & Paul W. Beamish, 2020. "Integration-oriented strategies, host market corruption and the likelihood of foreign subsidiary exit from emerging markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(3), pages 414-431, April.
    15. Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & García-Muiña, Fernando E., 2021. "Digitalization level, corruptive practices, and location choice in the hotel industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 176-185.
    16. Umberto Medicamento & Bernardo De Gennaro & Arturo Casieri, 2013. "La competitivit? del settore dell?olio di oliva attraverso l?analisi del network degli scambi commerciali internazionali," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 15(1), pages 103-122.
    17. Jessie Zhou & Mike Peng, 2012. "Does bribery help or hurt firm growth around the world?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 907-921, December.
    18. Duanmu, Jing-Lin, 2011. "The effect of corruption distance and market orientation on the ownership choice of MNEs: Evidence from China," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 162-174, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trust; Opportunism; Enforcement; Liability; Regulation; Vertical integration; L14; K42;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:35:y:2013:i:3:p:349-366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.