Occupy movements highlighting economic inequality have quickly spread around the world. But they have also excluded several countries. One interesting example of the latter is India. How have businesses in India coped with the dual pressures of enhancing shareholder wealth leading to economic growth and operating in a society with a high level of inequality? Can businesses in the developed world learn from Indian enterprises that have attempted to balance their respective corporate good with the
With a theme of 99 percent vs. one percent, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) targeted the richest one percent of people in the United States who were perceived as [unfair] beneficiaries of a system of capitalism that was forestalling the future of the vast majority. Among the one percent are major businesses, which are increasingly being targeted by OWS. For example, Occupy protesters have called for the shutting down of ports operated by SSA Marine, a transportation services company owned by Goldman Sachs, the U.S. bank that was at the centre of the global financial crisis in 2007-08. The Occupy movement has since spread to over 100 cities in the U.S. and it has found an echo in over 1,500 cities globally, including parts of Europe.
• The Tata Council for Community Initiatives is a centralized program that drives the engagement of various companies of the Tata Group — a Mumbai-based conglomerate — with the communities in which they function. It is headed by a member of the Tata Group Corporate Centre (TCCI), which is indicative of the company’s top-level commitment. TCCI reinforces what is widely known in India as the “Tata Way” of doing business – honest, transparent and above board.
To address malnutrition, Britannia has partnered with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), based in Geneva, and developed biscuits that are fortified with several micronutrients, including iron. Britannia is the only biscuit manufacturer in the country to add iron, which is stripped out in the grain-milling process, through a separate method. Even though India’s existing regulations do not make it mandatory, the company goes a step further by making its biscuits free of harmful transfats. Britannia Industries distributes 10 million packs of fortified biscuits to children as part of the noontime meal plans, which are sponsored by various provincial governments. It has partnered with Naandi, an Indian NGO, to distribute them to schoolchildren in India, as part of their mid-day meal. It has also recently partnered with Clinton Global Foundation to take the fortification initiative to schoolchildren beyond India.
Reprint from Ivey Business Journal
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