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.

Using the Ethical Perceptions Index, this chapter reviews employees’ varying perceptions of ethical business practices across 22 of the world’s largest economies. The chapter addresses two important research questions: Do perceptions of ethical business practices relate to important organizational outcomes? And, How do we create and sustain ethical business practices? In answering these questions, we draw on an extensive, globally representative sample of employees, and show that organizations operating with higher levels of ethics and integrity are more likely to succeed, both with respect to the way employees feel about their work environment as well as multiple indicators of organizational-level business performance. Finally, we explore the main drivers of ethical business cultures, and demonstrate that organizations that build a climate for diversity and inclusion, communicate transparently, codify and regulate important work processes, and hire and advance managers who act with a high degree of interpersonal justice, will score the highest on the Ethical Perceptions Index. We conclude by offering suggestions for leaders who seek to improve their organization’s ethical standing amongst employees.