A major reason behind the myriad of laws and regulations governing international
commerce is fear – real or perceived – that some companies will use underhanded
tactics (by their definition) to gain competitive advantage or to exploit others. Many
of these problems ultimately come down to issues of corruption and bribery.
Corruption and bribery can obviously make it much more difficult to conduct business
in a foreign country, not just because of the unethical nature of such activity and
the unjustified increases in operating costs incurred, but also because of the resulting
uncertainty surrounding future government actions or the actions of competitors.
Several organizations have tried in recent years to classify countries based on the