In 2005, lawyers and executives of mega-retail firm Wal-Mart caught wind of an expensive series of bribes totaling $24 million from within their Mexican chain that had allowed “Walmex” to become Wal-Mart’s most profitable international venture and Mexico’s top private employer buy receiving building permits across Mexico they would have otherwise not have had.
These details came to light after a New York Times article in April 2012 (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www) revealed these facts and also that the events had been essentially brushed aside by Wal-Mart coroprate heads. The two ethical dilemmas I see with this are both whether the benefits of the bribery in terms of profit and employment were worth the illegal dealings, and the way Wal-Mart executives failed to enact any punishment on those involved. With regards to the first, any business wants to maximize profits, but anything unethical or illegal should be avoided if only from a moral standpoint. For the second point, Wal-Mart’s biggest failing was the apathy they displayed in terms of discipline for those who had been involved in the scandal. A business insisting that they operate with strong ethical behaviour in mind (as Wal-Mart does) should have followed through with the matter further than they did. The scandal saw the resignation of Wal-Mart’s general counsel, Maritza Munich, who, angered over the situation, argued for further investigation “independent of Walmex management participation” in an “effort to preserve the integrity of the investigation.” Her resignation and statements demonstrate that Wal-Mart’s actions in the matter were not intended to be ethical.
Additional source: http://bx.businessweek.com/business-ethics/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coachingtip.com%2F2012%2F04%2Fwal-mart-leadership-sweeps-24-million-of-bribes-under-the-rug.html