In the footsteps of India's Tata Group - which is hunting for a successor right now - business houses across the globe are resorting to old world values of community service to sustain themselves in the long run, says British business historian Morgen Witzel.
"The house has always believed in service to community since it was set up in the early 19th century," Witzel told IANS. "It is one of the biggest values that the Tatas have brought to the world."
He said the industrial revolution had changed the business environment into a "dominant form of capitalism". But now industrial houses are looking at business as a relationship, a relationship that goes beyond the financial achievements to its contributions to society at large.
"I think companies across the world at large are looking back at the values that existed before the industrial revolution when businesses saw communities that made up the workforce as stakeholders. Industry houses are gradually waking to the fact that they cannot do business without the involvement of communities," said Witzel. "It is a promising sign."
Witzel, however, has a different view on the current industry buzz on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
"Corporate Social Responsibility is a terribly overused term of expression. It is the kind of thing the company says when it wants to do something else. The concept of CSR is just an add-on," he said.
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