Sustainability Of Ethical Business In East Africa: Analysis Of Corruption Acceptability And Impact On Business

Research Question

Discuss about the Islamic Banking And Investment Financing.

The paper mainly reflects on the Sustainability of Ethical Business in East Africa. It is identified that the organization like “Kamuli Sugar Limited” which is one of the sugar manufacturing company in Uganda is facing number of ethical challenges, which helps in creating several impact on the overall development of the region and further helps in compromising the contribution that could be made for long-term wellbeing of the communities.  It is identified that in a marketplace where social evil like corruption exists, it is quite difficult for the business to survive who does not indulge in activities like corruption.  In east Africa, the people who live in urban areas generally pay bribes. In addition to this, it is identified that various business structures also constitute large-scale corruption in context to their activities and therefore they are sustaining in the market. However, the business who does not indulge themselves in unethical activities will face number of issues and challenges in surviving within the contemporary marketplace of East Africa.

The level of corruption, which constitutes various business of East Africa, is determined in this paper. The paper also elaborates the impact of corruption acceptability on business and assists in analyzing the involvement of the government in creating various policies for addressing various unethical situations. The paper utilizes primary research method in order to collect information. Additionally, the paper also illustrates the foreseen limitations as well as the research schedule.

The research question is:  

How can corruption best be countered in small and medium enterprises of East Africa?

The result of the research will help government to form the policies. It will also help upcoming investors to take decision for investment in the region.

 According to Abubakar and Aduda (2017), Uganda tops in corruption among the five different countries that are under the community of East Africa. It is identified that the organization like Kamuli Sugar Limited also faces lot of problems as well as issues due to corruption. The level of corruption that is present is drastically affecting the economic development due to misallocation of various types of resources within the organization (Crane and Matten 2016). In order to persist in the market, the organization adopts corruption that undermines various policies. It is analyzed that there is no proper way with which the presence of corruption can be determined.

Eisenbeib and Brodbeck (2014) stated that corruption generally helps in preventing economic growth as it generally distorts both incentives as well as market signals that mainly leads to misallocation of various types of resources. Moreover, corruption in East Africa creates degenerative impact, which further helps in destroying the productive capacity of the organizations that are present in that region.  As per the East Africa Bribery Index 2017, bribery is one of the important issues within organization despite of the effort that is paid on educating the urban citizens about the consequences of corruption.

Mayanja and Perks (2017) opined that the state of affairs in East Africa increases the cost of doing business within the region, as bribery is a greatest concern in this region.  Corruption in the business generally threatens the global market as it generally affects the decision that is made by the various business owners in order to minimize efficacy of the people of various organizations by discouraging both foreign as well as internal investments (Parboteeah, Seriki and Hoegl 2014). It is analyzed that the existences of corruption within the business organization generally help in reducing the business credibility as well as profits when the professionals misuse their positions.

Literature Review

 According to Melissen et al. (2017), East Africans do not generally report about the various bribery incidents that is encountered. It is identified that only 10% of the respondents generally reports about the various incidents of bribery that is encountered however in majority of the cases proper action against corruption is not taken by the organization as they finds it as one of the way to exists in the market of East Africa (Fernando 2017). The organizations that do not want to engage in unethical activities faces lot of difficulty in existing in the market and in order to exist the organizations select corruption or any other unethical way as a solution.  Therefore, it can be analyzed that the level of corruption within East Africa is quite high. In addition to this, it is analyzed that the outcome of corruption within the business generally adds to the burgeoning role of various crime-fighting investigators as well as government agencies.

 The business sector of East Africa has singled out the rising rate of corruption as one of the major threat to the businesses. According to James et al. (2016), corruption is identified as one of the greatest obstacle to both social as well as economic development in Kenya irrespective of whether it is real or perceived. The devastating effects of corruption within the economic development of East Africa are huge.  It is identified that in order to exist in the market of East Africa, the organization utilizes different unethical methods including corruption and thus the acceptability of corruption within east Africa is quite high (Wanger et al. 2017). Due to high acceptability of corruption, business faces number of development related issues and challenges. It is identified that the results of corruption within business helps in adding within the various burgeoning roles of government agencies, internal investigators as well as police departments.  The trickledown impact of corruption generally ends up with feeding the interests of black market that further assist in supporting the efforts of various organized crimes as the activities generally infiltrate various levels of business.

 It is stated by Walters, Mars and Scott (2016) that financial loss is one of the obvious effects of various types of fraud or corruption cases that generally occur within the sugarcane industry of East Africa. It is identified that the costs of various fraudulent financial reporting are quite harder to understand as well as determine. In addition to this, it is identified that due to number of cases of fraud, both the culture as well as morale of the company is shattering. Corruption within the business can also dent the image of the business organization like Kamuli Sugar Limited. As customers or public gets unethical image of the organizations then they generally receive a negative picture of the company and as a result, they losses trust within the organization (Shah and Alotaibi 2018). This may generally results in loss of reputable business clients as well as partners.

 Ikejemba et al. (2017) opined that due to the acceptability of unethical business procedures within the organization the efficiency of the business decreases. The efficiency of the business is generally jeopardized due to high acceptability of corruption within the market of East Africa.  The rate of crime within the business also increases and it is higher in the market of East Asia where both greed and competition can be outweighed by the good of society and as a result, the fuel of corruption generally affects the society in which the business generally operates (Kabubu, Huho and Kyalo 2015). Moreover, it is analyzed that the organizations like Kamuli Sugar Limited faces financial problems due to the inflation in the prices of raw materials that is needed for the industry and the inflation in the prices is mainly occurred due to corruption. Consumers need to pay the cost of vendor corruption when the purchasing agent requires payoffs.

Level of corruption, which constitutes business activities in East Africa

According to Mani, Agrawal and Sharma (2016), the East African government indulge themselves in forming number of policies so that they can easily address the situation. The government generally wants to improve the governance by enhancing accountability as well as transparency for committing work together in order to combat corruption. It is stated by Pashby and de Oliveira Andreotti (2016) that the government of East Africa generally commits for continuing with the momentum of combating corruption in order to reduce issues as well as problems that are associated with corruption. The government utilizes annual national engagement on anti-corruption in order to engage with various stakeholders of the organization so that they can easily determine workable, clear as well as measurable targets that further helps in reducing corruption that are associated with the organizations.

The government of East Africa also wants to introduce ethics training classes for the various public officials across different levels of government (Wawire, Nyambegera and Nzioki 2015). The national anti-corruption steering committees with the help of various accountability bodies mainly have the intension of creating various types of synergies among various types of service delivery agencies as well as professional regulatory bodies. The committee also commits for supporting the development of code, conduct of civil service with proper disciplinary penalties. Jeremy and Cilliers (2016) opined that the government mainly intends to enforce the entire launched code of governance for various state corporations in order to institutionalize efficiency, transparency as well as accountability in the discharge of various state corporation mandates.

 The government takes the initiative of implementing as well as reinforcing international anti-corruption initiatives and standards for conducting proper transparent evaluation procedure that is under the UNCAC, which mainly includes number of different stakeholders. Mitonga-Monga and Cilliers (2016) stated that the government of East Africa mainly commits of implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency initiative in order to identify as well as enable EITI focal point implementation. The government also adopt as well as implement number of transparent and progressive policies of mid-stream, up-stream including transparency in various procedures of licensing (Shah and Alotaibi 2018). In addition to this, the government also indulges themselves in expanding the utilization of technology in order to reduce various types of opportunities that are generally associated with corruption.

The government generally leverages technology that would be helpful in reducing as well as eradicating the various opportunities of corruption.  The government mainly committed to enhance their efforts in order to integrate all the financial system that are under the integrated financial management. In addition to this, they also committed for developing number of digital program that are helps in reducing the problem of corruption.  Kabubu, Huho and Kyalo (2015) stated that the government of East Africa has committed to expand their program transparently in order to utilize procurement system for eliminating corruption as well as for finalizing the transition of e-procurement.

According to Mani, Agrawal and Sharma (2016), the government of East Africa also ensures accountability for corruption as well as mismanagement. The government generally sustains its commitment for conducting proper investigations that is based on number of corruption cases where investigation generally adduces sufficient evidence for professionally prosecuting different cases of corruption.  Furthermore, the government also commits that they will accelerate the entire work in order to strengthen the capacity of the financial reporting center for tracking illicit financial flows.

Determining the impact of corruption acceptability in the society on ethical business

It is identified that there are three main types of research philosophy, which includes interpretivism, positivism as well as realism (Lewis 2015). In this research study, the researcher mainly utilizes positivism research philosophy as it generally helps in understanding the reality about the entire research study. It helps the research study to undertake proper analysis on the data that is collected in order to create a proper framework. Therefore, this research philosophy is mainly required for understanding as well as for conducting research on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa.     

 As per the research methodology, there are mainly two types of research approach, which are generally used for conducting the research. The types of research approach include inductive research approach as well as deductive research approach. In this particular type of research, the researcher mainly utilizes deductive research approach in order to analyze the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa (Smith 2015). Deductive approach is mainly utilized in order to establish various types of theories as well as data collection method that further assists in filling the gap for completing the research study successfully. It is identified that inductive research approach is not utilized in this research as this research mainly helps in reflecting the sustainability of ethical business.

 It is identified that there are mainly two types of data collection method such as primary data collection method and secondary data collection method.  In order to collect primary data, the researcher utilizes questionnaires as well as surveys whereas in order to conduct secondary data, the researcher utilized journals as well as articles for collecting information (Brinkmann 2014). Even, it is found that the data collection procedure is mainly categorized into quantitative as well as qualitative data method.

The researcher mainly utilizes both secondary as well as primary data collection method in order to undertake the research on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa. It is identified that the researcher reviews number of articles as well as journals in order to collect proper information about the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa. This will be helpful for the literature review of the research. The level of information that is reviewed from various journals as well as articles generally assists in providing proper details information on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa. Furthermore, the researcher collects primary data with the help of an interview process. It is identified that the managers as well as consumers of various market sectors of East Africa mainly conduct the interview.  The researcher utilizes critical analysis method on the argument provided by the project employees and provides proper idea and knowledge depending on their skills and experience. The survey will be generally conducted with the help of close ended questions that is formed by utilizing website like survey money.

Sample and population Size: It is found that in the current study, both the employees and the managers are considered as population for the study. The sample of the employees is simple random probability where no other criteria that is selected is measured. With the help of online survey questionnaire, the employees of the organization are asked to participate within the survey questionnaire depending on the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the employees of the organization. In order to successfully conduct the study, sample size of 50 employees are mainly considered for survey and sample size of 5 managers are considered for the interview. The survey will conducted online with the help of closed questions in Google forms whereas the interview will be conducted with the help of open questions.

 Research design is considered as one of the significant factor of a research methodology that is sequentially structured by the researcher for carrying out the research work quite successfully. It is identified that research design is the blueprint of the entire work of the research that generally discusses the research plan properly (Vaioleti 2016). There are mainly three types of research design, which includes exploratory, descriptive as well as explanatory research design. In this type of research, the researcher mainly selects explanatory research design for understanding the nature of research problem, purpose with both knowledge as well as experience of the researcher. By utilizing this type of research study, the researcher is able to understand both the limitations as well as research gap due to number of particular resources. After proper analysis of the research limitation, the researcher can be able to take proper step in order to improve the research method in order to meet the various mentioned objectives of the research.

 The researchers must follow proper rules and regulation in order to conduct the research. It is identified that while conducting the research on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa, the researchers generally maintained proper ethical consideration so that their activities not create negative impact on the research that is mainly undertaken. The information as well as data is helpful in increasing the depth level of the research. The people who are mainly associated with the research must not be tortured in order to complete the research work.

 It is identified that there are number of foreseen limitations associated with the research that is mainly faced by the researcher while conducting the research on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa. The limitations are as follows:

 Time constraint: The time that is provided to the researcher is not sufficient thus the research may face difficulty in providing proper detailed information on the research.

Budget constraint: The research may lack proper amount of fund and as a result, they may face difficulty in providing proper detail about the research that is mainly undertaken on the sustainability of ethical business in East Africa.

Scope constraint: The researcher will face difficulty in meeting the research scope properly in a very much-limited time. Therefore, some of the participants of the research can face less interest in working with the project.

References

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Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Eisenbeiß, S.A. and Brodbeck, F., 2014. Ethical and unethical leadership: A cross-cultural and cross-sectoral analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(2), pp.343-359.

Fernando, S., 2017. Globalising mental health or pathologising the Global South? Mapping the ethics, theory and practice of global mental health.

Ikejemba, E.C., Mpuan, P.B., Schuur, P.C. and Van Hillegersberg, J., 2017. The empirical reality & sustainable management failures of renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (part 1 of 2). Renewable energy, 102, pp.234-240.

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Mani, V., Agrawal, R. and Sharma, V., 2016. Flexibility in Social Sustainability: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industries. In Flexible Work Organizations (pp. 71-88). Springer, New Delhi.

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Shah, R.K. and Alotaibi, M., 2018. A Study of Unethical Practices in the Construction Industry and Potential Preventive Measures. Journal of Advanced College of Engineering and Management, 3, pp.55-77.

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Walters, L.E., Mars, M. and Scott, R.E., 2016. A Review and Critique of Teledermatology in the South African Public Health Sector. The Promise of New Technologies in an Age of New Health Challenges, p.143.

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