Gandhi Reincarnated - Gandhism in Globalised Economy!

                     The World is flat - Thomas L Friedman

Indeed, the world has come a long way in the last century. From the realms of small family managed businesses in 1900’s to giant corporate houses across the continents in 2000’s, the world around us has really become a global village. Business today has become borderless or technically speaking we have come to live in an era of Globalization. Globalization has not only made a mark in our business but also in our daily lives. Today it’s not amazing for an American family to have a neighbor of Indian origin. One’s children may be studying with children from different race or origin. While Globalization promises a free and optimistic world for one and all it is worthwhile to see what makes it work. It’s interesting to know that the ideas on which the ship of Globalization is sailing finds its anchor in the ideals of thinkers such as Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi or simply Gandhi, as the world knows him.

The basic tenet of Globalization, that work can be done in any part of the world relates to the Gandhian principles of equality. Gandhi advocated that all human beings are equal and are equally capable. They all must enjoy the same rights. Today the big businesses across the world are realizing the same and have increased their workforce in the developing nations, cognizant of the fact that talent knows no boundaries.

The second pillar of inclusive growth has seen many companies’ work for benefits of the people in various countries. Although global, they have already started imbibing the local culture and setting up corporate social responsibility activities to ensure inclusive growth. By Gandhian principles, growth is meaningful when it is inclusive, and in modern economy growth is sustainable when it is inclusive. This idea marks the dawn of a new era where businesses think of overall and not individual excellence.

The third pillar of ethics has never been so relevant to businesses than in globalized economy. Gandhian principles state that ethics has the most important role in one’s life and society. Today we have seen the Satyam’s and Enron’s of the world coming crashing down due to lack of ethics. These companies had everything they wanted but for the basic ideologies of ethics. Ethics has become the heart of any business today so much so that an unwritten rule of “only the ethical survive” has been proved correct in the last decades.

Gandhian principles of truth, tolerance and equality have a very strong correlation with the way businesses are being done. One can see the Gandhian philosophy in action in the world’s Tata’s and Infosys’. These companies have laid their businesses on similar lines of Gandhian philosophy and have seen unprecedented success. On a bird’s eye view, we can find that all the successful companies in the globalized economies have somewhere or the other have their roots in the basic principles of Gandhi.

Thus the Gandhian principles though deliberated long back; were never more relevant to business than in today’s globalized world.