Imagine that the economic well-being of Canada depends on the ability

From the given case scenario, I will advise minister to turn a blind eye on deeply rooted practise of bribing due to following reasons. Firstly, Bribery is beneficial for some executives that is at stake working in a firm by getting some extra income that can bring greatest happiness and can earn more profit. Secondly, if bribery is illegal in Canada but is an acceptable practise by the culture then it is acceptable for a business to participate, earn profit and save thousands of jobs. This is the morally right thing to do for a person if accepted by the culture but still an illegal act. I will relate both of this arguments above to utilitarian moral theory. As per utilitarian moral theory, an act is ethical if the result is the greatest good for the greatest number and can bring greatest happiness. If a person considers bribing in order to earn profit and happiness then, it is true that bribing is right act to perform for that person.

Bribing is beneficial for some executives that is at stake and whose monthly salaries are not enough to live their lifestyle as they want. For example, if a person owns the business of clothing and if productivity is not enough in that country then, one might can bribe the vendors from another country to conduct business in other small developing countries. In this situation, both sides win by earning profit that can benefit the employees working in the corporation and will have greater productivity as well. It is important to consider ethics of a situation whether it is a helping hand bribe or a greedy bribe. In other words, the intentions of the person are to offer anything extra in exchange of bribe or abusing his/her power to obtain cash. If executives of the large companies want to sell their products to small developing countries and in order to do so, if they have to bribe someone within the local government then it is morally right thing for them. It will produce greatest happiness for the greatest number of people as the government officials will be able to earn extra income and it will benefit both sides. Utilitarianism theory says that an act or action is right if it results in happiness or pleasure of the greatest number of people in a society or a group.

As per second argument, if bribery is illegal in Canada but is an acceptable practise by the culture and is a deeply rooted custom then, the person should act within cultural context. For example, the construction division of SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based engineering firm, admitted to paying 127 million Canadian dollars in bribes to Libyan officials to secure contracts in that country (Austen, 2019). According to utilitarianism theory, bribing is morally right if it secures the greatest happiness of greatest number of other people. However, this was an unethical and illegal act. As a result, the company was fined with 280 million dollars to be paid over 5 years as per Canadian Anti-Bribery act. Even though the company was able to secure happiness by earning extra money but at the end they were unable to secure happiness of the other people who are employees in that firm. If more than 90% people working in that firm agrees to bribe, then it is morally right thing for that firm to do but also company needs to consider whether it is legal or illegal before performing any action. As we know, culture involves a group of people showcasing their social behavior or habits in a society and is largely accepted. This shows that even though bribing is illegal in Canada still, it was practised by large number of people involved in that firm just to secure greater happiness and earn profit through securing more contracts.