An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

Indian corporations are becoming more and more active in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. A recent Best Practices meeting in Chandigargh, India provided an opportunity for many corporations to discuss CSR issues with other similar companies. The meeting was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry. American companies dealing with need to watch conferences like these closely.

It is easy to misread ethics when they are wrapped in the cloth of a different culture. The corporations in attendance were all interested in programs that would benefit members of India’s society, and people all over the world, from corporate programs to restore eyesight to the legally blind (Standard Chartered Bank and CBM International) to programs empowering women (various corporations and NGOs).

These programs generate good will for the corporations involved, but probably not to a degree that would allow them to recover costs. It would appear the positive ethics of these Indian corporations are aimed at improving life for the citizens of India and the world, the goal at the very heart of Corporate Social Responsibility. Business in other countries would do well to learn from their lead.