IIMA's Annual B-school Summit Confluence 2009 Discusses "Sustain" after "Survive"

IIMA's Annual B-school Summit Confluence 2009 Discusses "Sustain" after "Survive"

The theme for the sessions on second day of IIMA's Management fest - Confluence was "Sustain" as a after the discussion of a number of "Survive" strategies on the first day.

The session commenced with an introduction of the speakers by the Session Chair - Prof. Abhinandan Jain, a faculty at IIM Ahmedabad. The first speaker for the day was Mr. Gurcharan Das, author of the difficulty of being good: on the Subtle Art of Dharma (Penguin 2009); India Unbound (2000). He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). He started the talk by outlining the qualities of a leader which according to him are determination and humility. He concentrated on the sustainability of Capitalism in the aftermath of the financial crisis. He took a number of examples from Mahabharata and drew a comparison between 'Vishama' meaning unevenness and society's greedy nature. He said the decisions of humans are governed by an "animal spirit" - which make them take impulsive decisions, even if they have incomplete information. The dot com bubble has already happened, yet we created conditions for another, bigger bubble - The Sub Prime crisis. The only way out is regulation. According to him, people should follow the path of "Dharma". It has a number of implications. It means following moral practices, regulating the economy - taming the animal spirit, but not letting it die by practices like License Raj, practicing self restraint and creating a balance. He insisted that capital did not fail and one of the strengths of capitalism is that at its roots, it's moral and driven by self interest and not selfishness. He also pointed out that it may not be flawless but it is the best we have got. In the end, he concluded that those professing capitalism must not get defensive but should rather realize that its strength lies in its morality.

This exhortation of Capitalism was followed by a more somber talk on "Corporate approach to sustainable business" by Mr. Pradip Shah, Founder, IndAsia Fund Advisors Private Limited. He called on the need for reducing the emissions of Green house Gases as one of the most important factors driving future sustenance and growth. He stressed that it is no longer a choice of voluntary action by companies like GE, but will be a compulsion driven by legislation, pressure from investors, etc. The concerns of the industry like the huge commercial risk involved, the possibility that global warming is a natural phenomenon and not man made, and the lack of uniformity in measurement, verification and reporting were also highlighted. Corporates can, however, tackle this only by taking up the matter proactively and gearing their business for legislative reforms, maintaining competitiveness by following more and more green practices, thereby increasing their reputation and becoming leaders in these initiatives. In the end, he also touched upon individual action that people can take by reducing our wants and satisfying our needs.

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Contributed by -
M. Arun,
Coordinator,
Media Relations,
Confluence 2009,
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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