Not really. The company's not really paying bribes out of their own money though. They're paying it out of the revenue flow from that sale.

In other words "give me this govt contract and I'll route n% of it back to you". n% has to be "reasonable" or there's no commercial point in offering the bribe to begin with.

If there's a cash-flow issue (you gotta pay the bribe before getting the contract) then I guess it favors deep pockets.