Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

My uncle was working in a high position for an international company that had business relations with an asian company overseas. However with the asian company he had close personal ties, a friendship of over 10 years with one of the top managers in the company. They were so close that they would stay at each other's houses and attend their children's birthday parties. So, being so close the asian manager decided to give my uncle an extravagant $5000 watch. Between affluent friends, thus could simply be seen as a friendly gesture. 

However, because of the international context and the fact that their companies were working with each other, this harmless gift could now have many meanings and caused my uncle a a world of problems. 

In the asian culture it is often acceptable to give gifts. However, these usually come with the expectation of future favours from the receiver, resulting in a perception of bribery. This gift-giving has resulted in true bribery so many times that many multi-national companies set guidelines and limits to gifts received from asian counterparts. Although it was just a gift on the part of his friend, my uncle knew it could be easily seen as a case of corruption to an outside observer.

He could not just accept the watch because with the prevalence of corruption he could be accused of accepting a bribe which could get him and his company into a lot of trouble. On the other hand, he could not refuse the gift because it would make his friend lose a lot of face and damage their relationship. 

What he decided to do in the end was to record the watch as a company bonus and he made sure to work overtime, without pay, for the exact value of the watch. He did not communicate the extent of his troubles with his friend, he just told him that for the next birthday to please not buy such an expensive gift.