Abstract
Business and Community: The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility in India, authored by Pushpa Sundar, is a SAGE Response publication brought out in 2013. The book has a foreword written by Ratan N. Tata. In addition, it also has an advance praise section scripted by Narayana Murthy, Arun Maira and M. V. Subbiah. The book is targeted at the general public and the business community. Although not aimed at the academic community, the book catches the attention of a section of academia, especially those working on and negotiating with contested concepts such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Gallie, 1956).
The volume is divided into three parts and 10 chapters. In addition, the appendices cover the pioneering dynasties and their philanthropic activities from 1914–1960 and there is also a brief sketch of CSR as followed by a few select companies. Part I, entitled ‘Business and Community: Yesterday (1850–1990)’, traces the history, nature, growth of Indian businesses and the nature of the business-communities’ engagement, which the author argues has moved from charity, philanthropy to present day corporate social responsibility. Part II, entitled ‘Business and Community: Globalisation and Beyond (1990–2012)’, focuses on the globalisation and the resultant ‘winds of change’, a term the author prefers to use for the changes that globalisation has brought into the Indian business scenario. This part locates contemporary CSR in India in the context of the global developments in CSR, the emerging role of the state, the social composition of the present business class and the challenging issues in the business-society interface. Part III examines the spread of CSR, implementation of activities, types of CSR engagements, personal philanthropy, reporting and other developments in this field. This part highlights two challenges for the business, namely environment and land acquisition. Part III also makes a strong appeal to operationalise the Gandhian trusteeship model to realise the goals of CSR.
To bring a semblance of coherence in the book, the author has divided the period from 1850–2012 into four phases and has traced the evolution of CSR in India from the beginning of industrialisation (1850) to the present day. In the process, she has identified the factors which influence the businesses-community interface and the consequent shifts in the ideas and practices of CSR.
In the Preface, the author makes an argument for the uniqueness of the Indian variant of CSR. She asserts that at the time when globalisation has ensured uniformity of practices across the globe, the Indian CSR is unique and interesting on account of the history of the business community and its response to socio-economic changes which have shaped its history. However, it is the introduction to the book which sets its tone. The introduction starts with a specific quote from the Mahabharata that celebrates the power of production of the merchants. The quote ends with an appeal to the king to favour the merchants as a kingdom has no greater wealth than its merchants. This somehow indicates to readers the position the author is likely to take on the role of business in society and relations between business and the state and between business and the community.
The book covers a range of topics connected with CSR. The book has a certain relevance because it positions CSR in the context of characteristics of the business class over a period of time. A linear sketch of India’s business class, from 1850, a year the author believes marks the beginning of industrialisation in India, up to the present day capitalist economy is interesting. The author has, in addition, tried to link social responsibility of the business class with the political environment of the time, especially the freedom struggle under Gandhi. When discussing difficulties and challenges facing CSR in the current times, she also highlights two major issues—environment and land acquisition—which are crucial to the growth of Indian industry. The author takes two interesting positions. She argues, though softly, against mandatory CSR and goes onto suggest that a reinterpreted Gandhian model of trusteeship is most suitable for present day CSR. She states that to approach development with a spirit of trusteeship requires every individual and organisation to consider themselves as trustees for the disadvantaged and act on their behalf for their benefit.
However, the book does have some shortcomings. The author defines CSR as an all-encompassing term which covers the business community’s social engagement for mutual benefit. On account of this loose definition, the author throughout the book meanders between charity, philanthropy and the present-day business case of CSR. This positioning is evident many times but especially when where she cites cases of individual philanthropy to elaborate her arguments. In the absence of a concise definition of CSR in the book, the reader is confused as to how they should interpret the stories narrated by the author through the framework of social responsibilities of business. Though CSR is considered a contested concept, however, in my opinion, it’s necessary to give a crisp definition of CSR when one writes on this issue, especially in a historical context.
Another aspect in the book which needs to be underscored is that although the author highlights the impact of global economic developments on Indian business, she side-steps the politics behind these developments. Therefore, developments in the world emerge as independent contexts in the book, to which the business community in India responds to and takes advantage of. The author argues that business has always acknowledged interdependence between them, the community and the government. It has, therefore, tried to give back to society either through a sense of altruism or because of self-interest. She further elaborates that the present interest in CSR is on account of increasing inequalities, ideological changes across the world, the spate of corporate scams in India, the enormity of problems and the inability of the government to tackle them on account of its inflexibility and bureaucratic controls. The author does not acknowledge the fact that the inability of the government to tackle these problems is because of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. At the same time, the structural adjustments introduced in India at the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have ensured that the government spending on the social sector is drastically reduced. One may look at the trends in the fund allocation made to education and health sector in this regard. These omissions may have been due to the author not treating her data and information to a theoretical framework.
The author makes an interesting observation when she discusses the determinants of CSR. She contends that to be able to give, business first needs to earn and also be ensured that the profits will continue to be there and that business can do what it wishes to do with its profits. It is only then that business can think of donating money towards philanthropy and charity. While the point that she makes is valid that business is there to make profits, however, in the process, the author has made the social responsibility of business dependent on its profit making capacity. This is an area of concern since business must be socially responsible in all situations.
In the first part of the book, the author traces developments of CSR in the West and then sketches the growth of CSR in India from its ‘charity’ origins to the present day. She sets the background of these changes in the characteristics of the business class. For instance, in the chapter where the author traces the history of the transformation of the merchants class to the modern day capitalists against the background of the movement of social responsibility from charity to the present day CSR: the author identifies that the zeal to do something for the society was always there and, with the change in the personal characteristics of the business community, there was a shift from a religious to secular criteria for giving. The author here ignores the class character of the business community which is aimed at profit maximisation through exploitation of the workforce, environment or the common natural resources. This class character is legitimised by the use of various mechanisms such as religion or the present day secular institutions. In the absence of the class analysis of the engagement of business with the society, the interventions of the business community in the social issues emerge as stories of their benevolence.
The author advocates for the trusteeship model for CSR in the present context. The model, per se, makes the business community a trustee of the wealth generated by them which they must return back to society. This model suits the business community and the government. The author has herself acknowledged that the business community was amenable to the trusteeship model as it did not challenge their wealth but appealed to their conscience by using religious undertones. It needs to be underscored that the class interest unites the business community in favour of the models which do not challenge the existing distribution of resources. The trusteeship model presented an alternative model at that point in history when there were strong winds of communist and socialist influence across the world. The present day discourse on social responsibility is fast moving towards a rights-based perspective, based on equal rights of the business and communities over natural and environment resources. The trusteeship model which gives more weightage to the business community in distribution of resources may not be acceptable to some of the stakeholders.
The last point that needs to be discussed is the position taken by the author on the need of business to learn to negotiate with communities in a participatory manner. The author, while discussing the challenges to the business community engagement in Part III of the book, identifies civil society as one challenge. This is on account of the fact that the latter is considered by people to be having more credibility and public sympathy as they are seen to be working for public good rather than private gain. She later indicates that a strategic response to the challenges, such as the ones posed by the civil society groups, should be to map the landscape of different stakeholders, the influence of various groups, their agenda and level of activism, and then cooperate and collaborate. The author here reduces protests as sites of contestation between the corporate and the communities which need to be won by the corporate through strategic responses, thereby reducing all protests; even the genuine ones as problems.
The book, at the same time, does provide the reader with some useful ideas and information on a range of topics, issues and concerns related to CSR.