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Chapter
  • Print publication year: 2017
  • Online publication date: October 2017

1 - Ethical Business Culture in Brazil

from Part I - Ethical Business Cultures: Country Perspectives
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Summary
Abstract

Doing business in Brazil requires a thorough understanding of what ethical business culture means in the country and how this culture is related to the inherent threats and opportunities in the Brazilian business environment, stressing the private and public connection, as many economic crises have had their origins in corruption scandals and ethical deviations. Historical and cultural factors such as jeitinho (a specific Brazilian approach to circumventing bureaucratic barriers and solving problems using informal networks of relationships and favors) still permeate social and business behavior, hindering the development of a more professional and ethical business culture for both private and public enterprises and impairing a more consistent national growth. Despite progress, made recently, changing a traditionally paternalist, personalist, and impunity-based business culture is neither easy nor automatic. Merely adopting codes of conduct has proven to be insufficient to transform Brazilian business culture, which is typically characterized by power concentration, paternalism, personal loyalty, and conflict avoidance. We explore this context behind the Brazilian model of ethical business culture and invite investors to cautiously enter the market, consciously preparing to both face it and help with the required change.

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Ethical Business Cultures in Emerging Markets
  • Online ISBN: 9781316225165
  • Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316225165
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