Business & Government Relations Panel
Dr. Prathap C. Reddy
Dr. Prathap C. Reddy
Founder and Chair of Apollo Hospitals, describes the bureaucratic challenges he faced
when trying to establish the first hospital in the 1980s, as well as the motivations that
helped him persevere.
Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao
Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao
Founder of MphasiS and Value and Budget Housing Corporation, explains how years of
creating new legislation without regard for existing laws has created a bureaucratic
gridlock.
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed
Founder of BRAC, explains how he was approached by politicians in Bangladesh asking
him to influence the votes of employees and how he refused to do so.
Questions for Discussion
- How typical are these successful examples of innovation shown in the clips?
- What are the continuing obstacles of innovation in South Asia? Has it become easier orharder to innovate over the last three decades?
- The clip from Seema Aziz talks of Pakistan’s poor reputation for quality as a major obstacle for innovation in the past. Is the country of origin effect getting better across the region – or not?
- Have there been situations in South Asia where innovation is harmful to company or thecommunity? How should companies deal with innovations which reduce employment?
Family Business Panel
Adi Godrej
Adi Godrej
Chairman of Godrej Group, describes how the name of Godrej became a
recognizable brand, and the advantages that this has had as the family business
expands into new industries. He also discusses his family's strategies for succession
and the emphasis placed on professionalism.
Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti
Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti
Chairman of Nalli Silk Sarees, explains how his grandfather's commitment to
honesty in business has been handed down through the generations, and how it
has helped to engender customer trust and loyalty.
Rahul Bajaj
Rahul Bajaj
Chairman of Bajaj Group, explains the difference between family and professional
management, incentives, and objectives, as well as the way Bajaj Group has
employed both types of leadership across its subsidiaries.
Questions for Discussion
- The clips show that family name was a huge advantage for a brands in South Asia in the past. Is this changing now?
- The clip by Rahul Bajaj differentiates between the characteristics of family and professional managers. Which would better serve South Asian business in the future?
- South Asia has seen both highly successful cases of succession planning and much less successful ones. What does history tell us about works and what does not?
Innovation Panel
Dr. Yusuf Hamied
Dr. Yusuf Hamied
CEO of Cipla, explains that the government’s inability to combat deadly
diseases like Bird Flu led him to pursue a new way to produce and
manufacture medications to prepare the country in case of an epidemic in
the early 2000s.
Seema Aziz
Seema Aziz
Managing Director of Sefam Private Limited, explains how, in the early
1980s, she and her brother decided to innovate the entire production chain
of Pakistani cotton embroidery in order to prove that emerging markets can
create quality products.
Ritu Kumar
Ritu Kumar
Founder of Ritika Pvt. Ltd., explains how her bridal business revived the
traditional craft of embroidery in India in the 1960s and '70s.
Questions for Discussion
- The clips stress the continuing difficulty of dealing with government bureaucracy in the region in the past – and the present. Is there hope this issue is getting better, or is it just changing form?
- Are there examples of successful corporate strategies to secure the upsides of policieswithout the downsides?
- What is the optimal role of government in a global world in which state-owned and/or supported firms in China (and elsewhere) are major competitors, while the new Trump administration appears set to intervene extensively with corporate decision making?
Responsibility Panel
Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao
Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao
Founder of MphasiS, explains his belief that the Indian government should not
mandate corporate philanthropy because it encourages superficial practices rather
than meaningful engagement with communities.
Merrill J. Fernando
Merrill J. Fernando
Founder and Chair of MJF Group, explains his belief that although profit in business is
important, the way profit is made is more important.
Seema Aziz
Seema Aziz
Founder of CARE Foundation, explains the absence of government schools motivated
her to set up a network of private schools, based on the belief that all children are
entitled to an equal education.
Questions for Discussion
- What is the trade-off between creating shareholder value and investing heavily in social responsibility? Can publically quoted firms ever be truly socially responsible?
- In 1958, HBS Marketing Professor Theodore Levitt wrote of the dangers of social responsibility, arguing that the function of business is to produce high level profits, and that corporations are simply not equipped to undertake social missions. Regardless of the shareholder value story, should not caring for society left to the better equipped hands of government and NGOs?
- Should government mandate social responsibility? Does such mandating inevitably lead to distortions and greenwashing? Or is mandating the only way to secure more equitable social outcomes?