Want to know how Big Corporations Bribe Officials?

Only their spelling differentiates corporate bribery and entertainment expenses.

I’ve been a one-person corporation for more than 40 years. I know nothing about how big corporations bribe (government) officials beyond what I read in the papers or hear on TV; I just know that they do via PACs and lobbyists, many of whom were once on the take side of a bribe and have changed allegiance to the give side. Sordid stuff, eh?

I wrote the book on how little corporations like mine survive and thrive: 12 Simply Smart Secrets for Living Large by Prospering Small. SECRET 4: COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS, for it is the ultimate win-win , is a blueprint for bribing, aka entertaining, officials of big corporations known as buying influences and customers. A snippet:

I learned early in my career that my customers, all employees of large firms with multiple layers of overbearing and watchful bosses, yearned to escape their offices for friendlier environs. I also learned that acceptable escapes were golf courses and suppliers’ offices, both of which are traditional venues for serious business discussions, which they can be but often fall short of that ideal.

So, naturally, I showed my appreciation of their needs and wants by joining an upper-crust golf club and arranged with the manager and pro to bend the rules and allow my customers to play, eat, and drink there even if I wasn’t with them. The club appreciated the extra revenue, and my clients appreciated the freedom to play, drink, and eat when they wanted.