Foreword 1 Tackling corruption in business: profitable and feasible N. R. Narayana Murthy1 Growing a successful and sustainable business requires at least three things: an uncompromising devotion to developing products and services that contribute real value and allow clients to achieve their goals in the most effective and efficient way; passionate leadership that attracts and inspires the best of the class to join this venture; and an unwavering commitment to act as a responsible player in the community, nurturing the public trust and support on which all businesses ultimately depend. Corruption erodes each of these pillars of business success: it means cutting corners and shirking honest competition rather than producing real, competitive value for clients; it means compromising corporate and individual integrity, deterring and demotivating the brightest and most innovative entrepreneurs and scientists from signing on; and it means consenting to, and propping up, a business environment in which complicity is for sale, entrusted public power is routinely abused for the sake of private gain, and public trust in the beneficial partnership between business and society is gradually undone. Infosys, the company that I founded with little more than US$250 in seed capital, has always taken a strong and principled position to resist the temptation of corruption. We passionately believed that our commitment to both customers and communities meant that illegal short cuts were never an option. We were confident that our values would prevail and, indeed, help us excel in the marketplace. Our hopes proved justified. Today Infosys is one of the largest, most respected and most trusted players in the global information technology and services arena. Far from disadvantaging us, our anti-corruption stance has been a driver for sustainable growth and performance. With it we have earned the trust of local and international business partners and fended off opportunistic overtures to rig the game. These standards continue to attract the most talented and value-oriented workforce to Infosys, proving to the business community and broader society that an open, accountable business environment, personal integrity and hard work are the indispensable ingredients that create a dynamic economy, expediting both economic and social development. It is with this experience in mind that I warmly welcome Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009. It delivers the timely and compelling message that business can, and must, stand up to corruption. To do so on a global scale is a daunting challenge; but it is the vigorous pursuit of this challenge that leads to trust, leads to growth, leads to success. For business. For society. 1 N. R. Narayana Murthy is chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited.
xix