Manual for Azerbaijan companies Rena Safaralieva

made at the meetings with the President”. Establishment of the National Fund for Entrepreneurship 

Development and adoption of the State Program on Small and Medium Enterprises Development for 

2002-2005 serves as another illustration of this cooperation.

36

  

 

Political non-interference 

 

As a rule, codes contain provisions on political non-interference and prohibition of financial support to 

political parties, even if legislation in force does not impose such restrictions. However, abstinence from 

political life, although valid for a company should not apply to its employees, who must be entitled  to 

their own choice of party membership, should they wish  to participate in politics.. For example, internal  

ethical regulation of Statoil specifically states that the company  “does not support any political party or 

candidate, and this neutral stance forms part of the Group's image. Individual employees remain free to 

participate in democratic political life, without reference or connection to their employment with Statoil”.  

 

However, the majority of codes specifically provide that membership in a political party shall not  

damage  interests of a company. The vagueness and breadth of  this provision evokes some reasonable 

concern. For example, it is not clear whether, under such a provision,   if an employee of a plant 

manufacturing natural fur coats, would be allowed to join Greenpeace. It would also be interesting to find 

out if a company, contracted by the state, would allow its employees to join opposition parties?  

 

 

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS TO CHAPTER IV. 

 PROBLEMS OF EXTERNAL CORPORATE ETHICS  

 

The questions below will assist you to check how well you have perceived the material.  

 

Unfair competition 

♦

 

Why does  a market economy require fair competition?  

♦

 

Please give illustrations of fair and unfair competition in Azerbaijan. 

♦

 

What main methods of unfair competition are used in  a developed market economy?  

♦

 

What main methods of unfair competition are used in a  developing market economy?  

♦

 

What mechanisms ensure unfair competition? 

Violation of anti-trust legislation  

♦

 

What are the classic methods of violations of anti-trust legislation?  

♦

 

Are these methods applied in Azerbaijan?  

♦

 

If yes, please give examples.  

Industry self-regulation  

♦

 

Why do businesses of many countries resort to industry self-regulation?  

♦

 

What program documents are used by businesses as instruments of industry self-regulation?  

♦

 

What is a court of arbitration?  

♦

 

Please give other instruments of industry self-regulation.  

Relations with authorities 

♦

 

What functions are performed by coordination councils?  

Political non-interference. 

♦

 

Why do companies stick to the principle of political non-interference?  

♦

 

Does this principle cover individual employees?  

                                                 

36

 N. Gulieva, All Recommendations of Businessmen Were Taken Into Account, Echo newspaper , 04.10.2002  

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CASE STUDIES  FOR CHAPTER IV. 

 PROBLEMS OF EXTERNAL CORPORATE ETHICS  

 

Please read the cases below and chose any answer option. Please justify your choice. The keys to 

answers can be found at the end of the book.  

 

1. My small company is bidding for a contract for repair of buses of a transport company. I know that my 

competitors are also bidding. I need this contract desperately, otherwise I will be facing ruin. I can:  

 

(a)

 

Wait for the end of tender.  

(b)

 

Try to make arrangement with competitors and ask them to overcharge in exchange for some other 

concessions.  

(c)

 

Try to reach an informal agreement with manager of the client firm.  

(d)

 

Ask a public official, a friend of mine, to exercise pressure on the client for a fee.  

(e)

 

Anything else?  

  

Will your answer change, if this company is: 

(а) small; (b) medium; (c) big; (d) transnational?  

 

2. My construction company has been awarded by a foreign company to construct a warehouse. I know 

that the company has received a permission from local authorities for a construction site. However, after 

announcement of results of the tender, my client was informed that the permission will be reconsidered. It 

is obvious that permission is being deliberately delayed. I understand that I might be ruined if I do not 

start this job soon. I can:  

 

(a)

 

Leave the customer deal with authorities on their own. 

(b)

 

My plan is to suggest to my client to increase my fee, so that I could deal with authorities they way 

things are often done here. Will my client:  

 

a)

 

Terminate my contract?  

b)

 

Tell me to forget my plan, but continue working with me? 

c)

 

Accept, but pretend that they have no idea of what I will be doing?  

d)

 

Readily accept?  

e)

 

Anything else?  

  

Will your answer change if this company is:  

(а) Norwegian; (b) American; (c) Russian; (d) Azerbaijan?  

 

3. Our country has a unique law forbidding manufacture and sales of non- iodinated salt. No other country 

has such a law. What do you think:  

 

(a)

 

What is the rational behind this law: protection of the nations’ health or of interest of major 

manufacturers in competition with numerous small cottage-style industry producers?  

(b)

 

What shall cheese manufacturers do if iodinated salt does not give  the required  production 

effect?  

 

4. Two big local companies, abstergents manufacturers, agreed to capture the market and sell products at 

dumping prices for a year now. These companies are backed by high rank public officials, who can afford 

to lose money in short-tem in hope of monopolization of the market. Such policy has brought small 

companies to the eve of bankruptcy, as small companies need to repay loans to banks and can not afford 

dumping prices. What shall these small companies do:  

 

(a)

 

Ruin quietly?  

(b)

 

Suggest big companies a deal of acquisition or merger?  

(c)

 

Go to media or court?  

(d)

 

Ask informal structures for assistance: business association or a coordination council?  

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