Institution Building in Indian Business: Dynamics and Dilemmas

This article examines an ‘Institution’ and its distinguishing features from ‘Organisation’. It enquires into the dynamics generated when Western structural assumptions juxtapose with an Indian world view, more particularly in Indian Family Businesses, that seek to transform into institutions. In this transformation into a ‘Modern’ institution, several dilemmas, tensions and paradoxes emerge (often unseen) that have the risk of stalling progress, or in reducing the potential for institutional vibrancy and perpetuity. The integration depends on the wholesome cross-assimilation of these vastly different paradigms. This article delves into these invisible cross-currents and formulates a few hypotheses and recommendations for regeneration and vitality.