Weak Business Culture as an Antecedent of Economic Crisis: The Case of Iceland
Weak Business Culture as an Antecedent of Economic Crisis: The Case of Iceland
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薄弱的商业文化是经济危机的先决条件：冰岛的案例
DOI：
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Pall Asgeir Davidsson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
V. Vaiman;Throstur Olaf Sigurjonsson;Pall Asgeir Davidsson
这篇文章的作者认为，传统的腐败，这在很大程度上被归咎于冰岛经济的现状，也许不是随之而来的危机的最根本的原因。薄弱的商业文化和商业与政治的共生关系实际上允许冰岛商业和政治精英做出大量自私和不道德的决定。为了说明这一点，在2009年的6个月内进行了10次专家访谈，以支持作者进行的深入研究。这篇文章还披露了最近引起冰岛国内外公众注意的可疑商业做法，这些做法最终促成了冰岛经济的崩溃。虽然传统的腐败可能在这一衰落中发挥了作用，但目前用于确定腐败程度的措施并没有考虑到冰岛社会的各种特殊性。因此，这篇文章认为，冰岛的腐败程度很高，但它超出了传统的定义。这种其他腐败最终阻止了政府对上述可疑的商业行为采取适当行动。文章还提出了一些一般性建议，这些建议对希望以透明、道德的方式从事商业活动并从冰岛的悲惨经历中吸取教训的政策制定者和商界领袖都有帮助。这些建议包括有必要认识到目前腐败定义的局限性，并提醒商业企业在对一国作出任何投资决定之前，不仅要密切关注普遍接受的指数和主流报告，而且要密切关注该国的历史、文化和政治环境。
The authors of this article contend that traditional corruption, which was largely blamed for the current situation in the Icelandic economy, was perhaps not the most fundamental reason for the ensuing crisis. The weak business culture and a symbiosis of business and politics have actually allowed for the bulk of self-serving and unethical decisions made by the Icelandic business and political elite. In order to illustrate this point, 10 expert interviews have been conducted within the period of 6 months in 2009 to support in-depth research carried out by the authors. The article also discloses questionable business practices that have recently come to the attention of the public both in Iceland and abroad and that ultimately facilitated the downfall of the Icelandic economy. While traditional corruption has probably played its role in this downfall, the measures currently employed to determine its level did not account for various peculiarities of Icelandic society. The article thus argues that there was a high level of corruption in Iceland, but it was outside of the traditional definition. This other corruption has ultimately prevented the government from acting appropriately upon the questionable business practices mentioned above. The article also offers some general recommendations which should be useful to both policy makers and business leaders wishing to engage in business activities in a transparent, ethical manner and learn from the tragic Icelandic experience. Among these recommendations are the necessity to recognize the limitations of current definitions of corruption, as well as a word of caution to commercial enterprises to pay a close attention not only to commonly accepted indices and mainstream reports but also to a country’s history, culture, and political environment, prior to making any sort of investment decisions in that country.