Submitted by: Submitted by Ndina
Views: 301
Words: 12337
Pages: 50
Category: Other Topics
Date Submitted: 09/05/2012 10:16 AM
Executive Summery
Business and society have been coeval since time immemorial and also have been inter-dependant.
This relationship between business and society is appreciated in Rigveda also : “Corporates should
work like a honeybee, which takes the nectar of a flower without the flower being losing its shape
and fragrance and provides honey for the wellbeing of the society.” It means that both have to work
on a symbiosis manner for each one’s survival and success. The business history is replete with
evidences to believe that business flourishes only where society thrives. On the contrary, business
dies when society condemns and rejects it. No business can survive without societal approval and
sanction. The inter-dependant nature of relationship between the business and the society is best
illustrated by the management guru Peter Drucker (1954) by the example of a ship and sea. He states
that the relationship between business and society is “like the relationship between a ship and the
sea which engirds it and carries it, which threatens it with storm and shipwreck, which has to be
crossed but which is yet alien and distant.” No doubt, business has been conducted primarily to
earn profit and / or create wealth. However, there are reasons and evidences to believe that the
mindless obsession with profit maximization at any cost carried to any extreme has led to spurt in
sordid activities in business causing harm to both the business and society and ultimately leading
business to flounder and fizzle out. Enrons Parmalats, Union Carbide, and World.com are to name a
few representing examples of such business collapses. Business history is also replete with examples
that only the businesses that are conducted through good or right practices enjoy societal sanction
and survive and last for long. Johnson & Johnson, Maruti Limited, Reliance Industries Limited, and
Tata Iron and Steel Company are such examples that indicate that being good in conducting business
activities...