Literal question
Imagine there are 5 towns, and in each town please imagine some firm which is of similar size as yours. The firm needs to get some permit from the authorities. The situation with informal payments somewhat differs across the towns.
In town #3, it is very difficult to obtain permit without the informal payments. But even when you make a payment, the success is not guaranteed. Would you say that in this town, corruption is an obstacle to the current operations of the firm? (If yes, to which degree?)