[Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/Prana) of Business? - Tata group

[Sachin Chavan]

The Tata group of companies in India, which is its largest conglomerate
comprising 115 companies and over $70 b revenue, was ranked 11th most
reputable in the world by the Reputation Institute in 2009. It is 140 years
old and the most respected business houses in India.

The Tata group is held by charitable trusts, and the chairman of the group
(as the previous chairmen, who were all stalwarts in social life) holds
almost no personal holding. They are known for their adherence to strong
values and business ethics. Just like Boruneville mentioned by Roger, the
Tatas have a huge township at Jamshedpur for its employees of the steel
company Tata Steel. They have funded and finance many quality research,
cultural and educational institutes and was awarded the Carnegie medal of
philanthrophy in 2007. Here's the link to their community activities if
interested further:
http://www.tata.com/ourcommitment/sub_index.aspx?sectid=8UaXnU/ejSw= . They
have a Tata index of sustainability for their group companies.

It goes to show that profitable business is not necessarily divorced from
sustainable, pro-community, ethical business.


Regards,
Sachin


-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Davies [mailto:rdavies at rtpcompany.com] 
Sent: 11 November 2009 03:39 AM
To: 'Rob Voyle'; 'Cheri Torres'; bruce at bruceelkin.com; 'Lionel Boxer';
ailist at lists.business.utah.edu; mail at sachinchavan.com
Subject: RE: [Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/Prana) of
Business?

Good point Rob,

The Cadbury family were very much focused on bettering the lives of their
employees. They built the village of Bournville near to the factory in the
West Midlands of the UK to house them. They have been profitable and well
respected since 1824. Their focus has always been quality, desirable
products and care for their employees. I wonder where the Kraft village is?

How many businesses these days would consider doing that? After all it's
just cost isn't it? Surely there's no value in it?

Of course Bournville was built in a time when home ownership was harder to
achieve and credit difficult to acquire. ICI, British Steel and many other
companies did the same. They saw value in providing stability and security
for their workforce. Many of those organizations had several generations of
the same family working for them. 

There are several fairly good sized German companies that are officially
charities. They put a good part of their profits into the care of their ex
employees. If you worked for them they will look after you in retirement.
I'm sure that there are some tax exemptions because of this but compare that
with how many US companies have reduced or eliminated benefits for retirees.

There are other tried and tested models of business operation in existence.
The question is how to make them the norm rather than the exception.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Voyle [mailto:robvoyle at voyle.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 3:30 PM
To: Cheri Torres; 'Roger Davies'; bruce at bruceelkin.com; 'Lionel Boxer';
ailist at lists.business.utah.edu; mail at sachinchavan.com
Subject: Re: [Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/Prana) of
Business?

Hi Cheri

What would happen if we saw profit as simply a measure of efficiency in
manifesting our purpose ie. offering something of value to the world and not
as something to be sought in and of itself.

Investors would be invited to invest in the offering of something of value
rather than simply investing for profit. That's not to say that they would
not make a profit, but the profit is secondary to the deeper purpose and
value the company offers to the community.

It is interesting to reflect on Krafts attempt to take over Cadburys. While
in similar industries their core values are worlds apart. Cadburys is
committed to fair trade coca, Krafts rejects fair trade as an intrusion into
free trade for the purpose of making a profit. A merger of these two
companies will do violence to each other's values and potentially destroy
that which is life giving to the company. 

Rob
  
Robert J. Voyle, Psy.D.
Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
For Coaching and Training in Appreciative Inquiry
Author: Core Elements of the Appreciative Way
http://www.clergyleadership.com/
503-647-2378 or 503-647-2382 


On 10 Nov 2009 at 13:52, Cheri Torres wrote:

> Sachan,
> 
> I love your insight about value as the life force of business.  The 
> stakeholder centered approach that John Mackey describes in Be the 
> Solution  is about creating value in five arenas--where no one area 
> gains value at the expense of the others.  The areas are:
> 1.  Employees
> 2.  Suppliers
> 3.  Customers
> 4.  Investors
> 5.  Community and Environment
> 
> Profit is the value stream for investors, but it is only one of five 
> and should not be maximized at the expense of value to the other four.
> 
> With regards to your other questions, I'm not clear what you are 
> actually asking or suggesting.  Could you please clarify what you mean 
> by the following and how it relates to the issue of business:
> > Would raising the collective consciousness level of the world be a 
> > common good? If not, what else can it be? And if yes, then are we at 
> > an inflexion point in evolution where the further journey is 
> > involution? Where
> we
> > start
> > discovering ourselves at a deeper level of inter-beingness, from
> the
> > current
> > peak of individuation of the Self?
> 
25-5088
>