 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
|
| I N S I G H T -------- Out of Ideas? AR al-Habib Environmentalism Michael Berliner Nationless Others Kate Huber Caucasus Fears A Abdurasulov Media Warfare JA Taylor Confront It... Salman Rushdie Jack Jihad C Beenfeldt The Goliath S Froestchel |
In the Darwinian world of business, managers are learning from people
By Atul Bharadwaj
Posted: May 19, 2006
Is business synonymous with war where two companies are constantly trying to outperform each other
through competitive strategies? Or is business love that has to be sustained through constant efforts --
to keep the romance alive in its relationship with the people for whom it is created?
When viewed through a narrow prism of profitability and competition, there is no room and time for
emotions like love in a fiercely competitive environment. Market is a Darwinian world, where only the
smartest survive. It is hard to argue against such pragmatic strategies, which are primarily the concern
of the field managers confronting the business opponents on a daily basis.
Business leadership capable of looking beyond the horizon cannot afford to limit its vision. The
leadership needs to look at myriad threats to the business than merely the one emanating from their
immediate competitors. This mean that business is both love as well as war. To explain this
dichotomy, I use the famous Clausewitzian philosophy of war.
Clausewitz dialectical approach to understanding war suggested that war is an act of violence and if
not restrained, violence can attain absolute form. He then presents the antithesis and explains that this
does not happen in reality because “war is a continuation of politics by other means”. Politics, that is
reason, restricts war from attaining ultimate violent form because the aim of war is never total
annihilation.
War during the course of its execution encounters various impediments, which naturally restrain it from
running its absolute course. In the end Clausewitz provides a synthesis of his theory and informs that
war is a trinity -- composed of passion, chance and reason. War stems from passion for violence,
constrained by chance or friction from acquiring absolute form. Politics instills in war a sense of
reason, which makes it comprehend that the purpose of war is not violence but attainment of higher
goal.
If we superimpose the theory of war on business, we see that the raw passion for profits can lead
business to destroy environment as well as people that come in its profit-maximizing ways. But we
don’t see this happening. It is mainly because business encounters friction in the form of organized
labour movements, vagaries of weather and regulators, which prevent it from being ruthlessly profit
driven.
Furthermore, reason informs business leaders that the ultimate goal is not profits but the sustainability
of the rhythms of capitalism.
Therefore, when we view business merely as a passion for profits, we are forced to equate it with war.
This passion forms an important element of business management and is therefore inculcated in
every rookie entering the B-School.
As the manager moves up the corporate ladder, she learns to encounter frictions, which prevent her
from registering maximum profits for her company. Her graduation from business manager to
leadership status makes her comprehend the reasons, which often prevented her from being brash in
the initial stages of her career.
She now begins to understand that business is not merely profit-driven war, which has to be won
against competitors. It is love -- a continuation of human welfare by other means.
It is at this stage that she begins to appreciate the difference between shareholders interests and
concern for stakeholders. She now understands that business has a task; the task is to be accepted
and respected by the masses. The credibility and sustainability of the business lies in its appeal,
generated not through colorful advertisements but through sincere corporate social responsibility
initiatives.
### ### ###
Atul Bharadwaj, a graduate of the Department of War Studies, King's College London, is Assistant
Editor, The Atlantic Affairs.
By Atul Bharadwaj
Posted: May 19, 2006
Is business synonymous with war where two companies are constantly trying to outperform each other
through competitive strategies? Or is business love that has to be sustained through constant efforts --
to keep the romance alive in its relationship with the people for whom it is created?
When viewed through a narrow prism of profitability and competition, there is no room and time for
emotions like love in a fiercely competitive environment. Market is a Darwinian world, where only the
smartest survive. It is hard to argue against such pragmatic strategies, which are primarily the concern
of the field managers confronting the business opponents on a daily basis.
Business leadership capable of looking beyond the horizon cannot afford to limit its vision. The
leadership needs to look at myriad threats to the business than merely the one emanating from their
immediate competitors. This mean that business is both love as well as war. To explain this
dichotomy, I use the famous Clausewitzian philosophy of war.
Clausewitz dialectical approach to understanding war suggested that war is an act of violence and if
not restrained, violence can attain absolute form. He then presents the antithesis and explains that this
does not happen in reality because “war is a continuation of politics by other means”. Politics, that is
reason, restricts war from attaining ultimate violent form because the aim of war is never total
annihilation.
War during the course of its execution encounters various impediments, which naturally restrain it from
running its absolute course. In the end Clausewitz provides a synthesis of his theory and informs that
war is a trinity -- composed of passion, chance and reason. War stems from passion for violence,
constrained by chance or friction from acquiring absolute form. Politics instills in war a sense of
reason, which makes it comprehend that the purpose of war is not violence but attainment of higher
goal.
If we superimpose the theory of war on business, we see that the raw passion for profits can lead
business to destroy environment as well as people that come in its profit-maximizing ways. But we
don’t see this happening. It is mainly because business encounters friction in the form of organized
labour movements, vagaries of weather and regulators, which prevent it from being ruthlessly profit
driven.
Furthermore, reason informs business leaders that the ultimate goal is not profits but the sustainability
of the rhythms of capitalism.
Therefore, when we view business merely as a passion for profits, we are forced to equate it with war.
This passion forms an important element of business management and is therefore inculcated in
every rookie entering the B-School.
As the manager moves up the corporate ladder, she learns to encounter frictions, which prevent her
from registering maximum profits for her company. Her graduation from business manager to
leadership status makes her comprehend the reasons, which often prevented her from being brash in
the initial stages of her career.
She now begins to understand that business is not merely profit-driven war, which has to be won
against competitors. It is love -- a continuation of human welfare by other means.
It is at this stage that she begins to appreciate the difference between shareholders interests and
concern for stakeholders. She now understands that business has a task; the task is to be accepted
and respected by the masses. The credibility and sustainability of the business lies in its appeal,
generated not through colorful advertisements but through sincere corporate social responsibility
initiatives.
### ### ###
Atul Bharadwaj, a graduate of the Department of War Studies, King's College London, is Assistant
Editor, The Atlantic Affairs.
| (c) 2006 New Criterion Foundation, London |
| Security. Ideologies. Multiculturalism. |