Mordidas Case Study
Presented by:
Greg Ehmer
Wesley Kean
Reid MacArthur
Bhargav Viradia
Case Synopsis

Setting: Mexico City, Mexico

Traffic officers pull over cars, officer presents law confirmation of prohibited
action, driver slips a bribe (mordidas in Spanish)

Smooth, efficient, and routine transaction widely accepted by both officers and
drivers

Suburb mayor single handedly makes traffic tickets illegal, resulting in stopped
payoffs but a free driving zone in suburb

Despite being wrong, the process is economically efficient, cutting out the
middle men in getting officers paid

Video:
http://businessethicsworkshop.com/Chapter_4/Mordida%20in%20the%20boo
klet.html
Cultural Relativism vs.
Traditional Ethical Theories
 Cultural Relativism = The suspicion that values and morality
are culture specific and not the result of universal reason.
They’re what a community believes.
 Traditional Ethical Theories = Formulating rules for action
that everyone—people in all times, places, and communities—
must obey if they want to consider themselves ethically
responsible.
 Confliction: For cultural relativism, all guidelines are culture
specific and one set of rules is not wrong or inferior to
another. Conversely, traditional ethics are to be followed in all
cultures
Traffic Ticket System in
Mexico City



Values

Inconsistency

Ease

Efficient
Advantages

Equitable distribution of wealth

Cuts down on government costs and court traffic

Money always goes to the officers
Ethical Justification

Cultural relativism:

Mordidas is a long standing and accepted means of transaction between the police officials
and the violators.

Help cops survive

Cops are not paid as much as they are in US
Traffic Ticket System in
the United States



Values

Integrity

Accountability

Fairness
Advantages

Universality

Consistency and protocol
Ethical Justification


Idea of fairness:

Aristotle: treat equals equally and unequal unequally (progressive nature of ticket)

Right to trial
Community as a whole benefits
Mexico City vs. USA Ticket Systems:
Does Mexico City’s Prevail?
 Yes.
 Cops in Mexico are paid much less than in US
 Widely Accepted and long standing in Mexico
 Trust issues between government and people

Money may end up with a corrupt political
 Not enough money to run an efficient court system
 No
 Encouraging corruption (slippery slope)
 Makes the law subjective

Allows upper class to be beyond reproach
FedEx Branch visit in
Mexico City
 Situation: Does culturalist ethics support your
reimbursement claim to FedEx for two mordidas paid
out-of-pocket?
 No
 Traffic ticket is a personal demeanor and the company
should not pay for it.
 FCPA and Mexican government
FedEx New Recruits
 Situation: New FedEx recruits come to Mexico City. For
mordidas advice, do you counsel a culturalist approach
or advise to obey the books?
 Obey by the book
 Consistency and accountability: Not compromising the
values of the company
 Kant: 1st version of categorical imperative: universalized
action. Mordidas would screw up Mexico.
Office Space in Mexico City:
Accept the Cash Gift?
 Situation: You are opening a new FedEx office in
Mexico City. Do you play by local rules and take a
generous cash gift in exchange for a certain office space?
 Yes
 Location is of utmost priority because of the nature of the
industry FedEx is in.
 We will be paying the money back in rent
 It is a gift (incentive).
 Win – win. Person offering the most money might have a
better place.
Office Space in Mexico City:
Conflicting Cash Bribes?
 Situation: You are opening a new FedEx office in
Mexico City. You have two equal spaces and each owner
offers you a bribe, one being larger. What do you do?
 Take the money.
 Given that both are giving a bribe, it’s time to make the
most of the situation (enlightened egoism)
 More money shows that he had a great willingness to
sacrifice for business.
My Common Virtues
 Prudence, Justice, Courage, Faith, Hope, Charity/Love,
Respect, Fairness, and Honesty
 Shaping Social Institutions
 Religious institutions (The Catholic Church - Seven
Virtues)
 Education (pre-high school)
 Family
 Friends
 Television
Applying Virtues in Mexico
City Driving Violation

Situation: You are caught by officer for driving a bit fast in Mexico
City? What do you do? What virtues apply?

Not pay mordidas:


We are representing our company

Don’t want to be caught up in USA for your transgressions in a foreign
nation

Doing the right thing
Virtues

Integrity

Honesty

Fairness
FedEx New Recruits, Bribery,
and Virtues

Situation: You are training FedEx recruits in Mexico City. In dealing with
bribery, what virtues do you instill in them and what previous life experiences
could the recruits have to prepare them for the Mexican streets?

Virtues


Integrity

Honesty

Fairness
Previous experience

Not taking the easy way out by cheating on a test

Halloween: Only taking one piece of candy i.e. doing the right thing when no one is
watching

Generally, taking the high road or not taking the easy route
The Mexico City Suburb Mayor
and Virtues

Situation: Could the mayor’s actions of canceling traffic tickets be considered part of the
government’s role in virtue ethics, and if so what virtues? What effect would this have in
developing better practitioners of those virtues?

Yes

Virtues Instilled


Honesty

Fairness

Obedience

Integrity

Self accountability
Provides for a primary tasks of ethics:

Provide education about those virtues (towards the self and family)

Provide experience using those virtues to better represent society

Allows the people to grow and develop together