Gift Giving, Bribery and Corruption: Ethical Management of Business Relationships in China

Gift giving and reciprocity is a rule of life in China, and Chinese ethical traditions themselves clearly distinguish it from corruption. The paper focuses upon how a company can ground its competitive strategies in the positive humanism of Chinese culture while avoiding corruption, whether measured by Chinese or Western standards. It concludes with some guidelines for doing business in China, which grow out of an approach to global business ethics as communicative action and focus upon negotiating strategies.