Corruption Perceptions Index Aided by IMD Research: MBA News

source: Transparency International

The IMD publication used towards forming the Corruption Perceptions Index is the Swiss school’s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), published earlier this year.

IMD’s WCY assesses the competitiveness of a nation in terms of its ability to create and maintain an environment conducive to value creation in its enterprises and prosperity among its people.

Its part in 2014’s Corruption Perceptions Index comes from one of the criteria -  concerning corruption and/or bribery – used by IMD in a survey of over 4,000 senior business leaders (both national and expatriate) across 60 countries/territories.

It sits alongside surveys from international organizations such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum in contributing to Transparency International’s ranking. The civil society organization says that a poor showing in the Corruption Perceptions Index signifies that a country has problems to address in areas such as bribery and a lack of accountability for corrupt practices.

China was marked out by the organization as a country that has seen perceived levels of corruption rise, despite the launch of a government-led anti-corruption campaign. The remaining BRIC countries were also perceived to have corruption and/or money laundering problems pertaining to bribery (Brazil) and the use of overseas bank accounts (India and Russia).

“Fast-growing economies whose governments refuse to be transparent and tolerate corruption, create a culture of impunity in which corruption thrives,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International in a press release.

At the other end of the spectrum, Denmark was praised for last month’s launch of an initiative to create a public register that details ownership information for all companies incorporated in Denmark – a measure the organization says is similar to those announced by Ukraine and the UK.

“Public registers that show who really owns a company would make it harder for the corrupt to take off with the spoils of their abuse of power,” said Transparency International’s MD Cobus de Swardt.