By Sean Feast, director, AGA Group 

The business community was apparently rocked by the recent ‘scandal', and I use that term advisedly, surrounding BAe Systems and the suggestion that it
was somehow wrong to be making payments to Saudi officials to guarantee certain arms deals. Tony Blair stopped the official Serious Fraud Office enquiry (SFO) because there was no evidence of bribery.

Comment on BAe Systems' handling of the affair from a communications perspective would be subjective; suffice to say they stuck soundly to their guns that all payments made (under the terms of the deal) were with the express approval of both the British and the Saudi governments.

Which set me thinking. At what stage does a ‘payment' - whether that means straight cash, a round of golf or a night at the opera for the chairman and his wife constitute a ‘bribe', if indeed it can ever be called so?

The world of marketing, and indeed business in general, has thrived on ‘gifts', 'freebies', ‘hospitality' etc - all euphemisms for much the same thing - engendering a better relationship with an existing or potential customer in the hope and anticipation of further business. Woe betide we call it a ‘backhander' or ‘brown envelope'; far too grubby. Call it an ‘introducer's fee' and it has an air of respectability.

Successive governments of all colours might too stand accused of ‘oiling the wheels of industry' with aid packages and other ‘bargaining tools' to foster better business relationships between respective nations, even when dealing with such countries might seem an anathema.

So at what stage is such a practice deemed ‘unacceptable' and should we be morally repulsed?

I am reminded of the story of Churchill in conversation with a lady at dinner to whom Winston asked: ‘Would you sleep with me for amillion pounds?' ‘Yes' she replied. ‘Would you sleep with me for a pound?' ‘Certainly not,' she retorts, ‘what kind of woman do you think I am?'. ‘That, Madam, we have already decided. Now we are negotiating the price!'

To put into question the ethics of an organisation's actions when faced with such allegations would appear to challenge the very premise on which business has been conducted since time began. If we believe it to be right, then we are merely ‘negotiating the price' we are prepared to pay.

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