Prof. Nichols’s talk focused on the moral component of corruption in emerging economies. For instance, he argued that engaging in corruption does not yield the best outcome for a business. Most well-managed businesses understand that idea at an intuitive level and would prefer to avoid corruptive behavior. However, in many contexts, particularly in Southeast Asia, a business that does not engage in corrupt actions is vulnerable to businesses that do; in the absence of some form of assurance that other businesses are not cheating then a business faces a dilemma: cheat and face the definite consequence of performing sub-optimally or do not cheat and face the equal possibilities of performing better or of being destroyed.