Bribery has been the leading ethical issue in business activities, and international bribery is more complicated and has greater ......... than bribery within one country.

Cross-border corruption has become a serious issue in international business especially in Asia's commercial activities, and is threatening the ......... of all cross-border business transactions.

Cross-border bribery is bribery aimed at manipulating business decisions made by a public official or a corporate employee across the national border in such a way that they are no longer motivated by the ......... of the employer.

The issue of cross-border bribery by American companies was first brought to public attention by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977; it was recognized that many American companies were involved in questionable foreign payments in order to gain ......... over their competitors.

It remains unclear, however, whether the Act has had any ......... effect on the competitiveness of American companies in international business.

Cross-border corruption exists also in business activities between mainland China and Hong Kong: according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, in ......... 50 Hong Kong companies with a production base on the mainland, payments intended to bribe accounted for three to five per cent of their operating costs.

While the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance in Hong Kong gave the ICAC the power to ......... corruption in Hong Kong, there has been no legislation similar to the FCPA that deals with cross-border corruption.

Mainland Chinese authorities too show much concern about the issue; the Premier's Office has issued Corruption Prevention Directives to ......... the problem.

The influence of ethical norms on cross-border business transactions can be examined from three different .........: cultural relativism, ethical imperialism (universalism), and the development of contextualized hypernorms.

Education can be used to shape people's attitudes towards corruption, but this is a time-consuming process; an ......... alternative would be to pass legislation to deter business executives from giving or receiving bribes.