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 #5, the situation in general is the same as in town 4. Besides that, it is know that the upper-level bureaucracy of this town is involved in illegal activities. Would you say that in this town, corruption is an obstacle to the current operations of the firm? (If yes, to which degree?)