4 - Confucian Corporate Culture and Competition Compliance

Summary

Chapter 4 analyses corporate culture in East Asia with a view to understanding how Confucian cultural norms can inform efforts to promote compliance with competition law. It suggests that practices to secure compliance among commercial operators can usefully be tailored to takes account of cultural characteristics. This implies a need to consider the legacy of Confucian ethics, which has had a profound influence on the organizational psychology and behaviour of commercial entities in the region. The importance of that legacy suggests that compliance will not be achieved within firms solely on the basis of the external legal environment, an environment in which deterrence-oriented factors such as sanctions and the threat of detection play a central role. Beyond traditional tools, more attention should be given to the internal moral and social environment, and to shaping the logic of appropriateness within a given firm. A compliance culture can thus be constructed on the basis of elements such as moral commitment, Eastern-style education, the cultivation of virtue, and the constructive convergence of the interests of the enterprise and those of its employees.