A recent study by a group of business school professors has intriguing implications for MBA programs throughout Illinois.
Because traditions and lines of bribery tend to be both clear and reliable in fully corrupt countries, it’s far easier to do business in them than in only partially corrupt countries.
The authors of the study see no reason why this principle couldn’t apply to American cities and states; and, a Chicago Tribune columnist points out, “Chicago just last year was deemed the nation’s most corrupt city and Illinois the third-most corrupt state in a well-publicized analysis.”
Rather than force their MBA students to take absurd ethics courses (UD‘s critique of these courses may be enjoyed by clicking on the category Beware the B-School Boys), business schools throughout Illinois might instead exploit their state’s curious advantage by offering modules on the tradition and fine-tuning of graft.
February 2nd, 2013 at 9:30AM
“I need more ‘evidence’.” According to publicly released FBI wiretap transcripts, that was the code phrase used by some corrupt judges in my area (not in Illinois) to solicit bribes from some defense attorneys while in chambers. For example, an aggravated murder was knocked down by a corrupt prosecutor to involuntary manslaughter for $200,000. Drug money.
“If you apply for a job with the city, you won’t be doing your own work.” That was how a friend of mine described the practice of attaching naive, politically unconnected folks to do the work of the kickbacks and political hacks.
February 2nd, 2013 at 8:25PM
UD, the scary part about your post, is that somewhere in the USA, some dean of a business school is saying humm…
February 3rd, 2013 at 8:36AM
Van, I can somehow see some value in brief academic coverage of corruption in B-schools. How much coverage can there possibly be though? One potential investor in my area told me, “Yeah, I build a factory here for $10 mill. You got Mob problems, you got labor problems, and, when I got a legal dispute, I don’t know who to pay off. I’ll never really know who runs my shop floor, will I?”
A South American mayor (Cali? Cartagena?) said forthrightly in a TV interview he was initially delighted when the drug lords moved in. Then something happened. The legit people started shutting down and moving out. There’s no deep-think to it. The rule of law no longer existed. The mayor himself moved out.