>This is sadly true for most proprietary IT. What would be the solution?
Not a solution, but I think this is in the right direction:
A business model in which IT execs with purchasing power have a vested interest in seeing the business succeed -- either financially or from an purely-engineering perspective. I believe the first point speaks to itself. The second, while it aligns with my bias that engineers make better tech execs (the engineer that 'works his way up' comes with perspective, knowledge, and wisdom), I still believe that engineers look after each other and at least know when they're fucking over the next guy for some wine or a couple days in a different city.
Unfortunately, this is my only suggestion because it's hard to do an ethics-test that's relevant and it's reasonably difficult to fire execs that you know aren't honor-bound.
>A rigid code of ethics that would prevent IT executives from meeting their vendors outside the office?
I've been taken out for drinks by vendors trying to close a deal. None have yet. When I grow a personal business to the point of free trips, there's a chance I'll take those if they don't interfere with my performance or come with a moral price-tag.
Which is to say, there's nothing inherently wrong with meeting salespeople outside of the office -- it's a just a conversation and "practice business." If the vendor is selling something interesting, who knows, maybe it's worth comparing against your current solution.
This is somewhat of a cherry-picked hypothetical anecdote, but I wouldn't choose any solution that makes for pissed-off engineers or burns money.
>I once worked for a company that had its CTO fired because he accepted a trip to Paris (so he could speak at a vendor-sponsored event), but only after buying a couple million dollars of inadequate and overly expensive hardware.
That's just corruption and lack of oversight. I realize that at some point, you have to trust the decisions of your CTO, but if he doesn't have significant skin in the game (and a couple million dollars isn't chump change to the company), this purchase order should have triggered a review of the proposal.