The answer is very simple. It is Taoism that makes
Chinese business do well, achieve big time success and gallop towards great
heights whereas many competitors bite the dust especially in the western world.
A business strategist must
understand the most important principles of Taoism practised in China
before he gets into his strategy drawing board:
Before venturing further, let me explain the
fundamental duality of Taoism that suggests the interplay between “De”
and “Wu Wei” The meaning of “De” is “Virtue” that reflects and embodies
in every human activity including business undertakings. On the other hand “Wu
Wei” means “Do nothing”. You might be startled to know why “Do not take any action”,
because you are always nagged by the management to take some form of action while
running a business. States Lao Tzu the founder of Taoism, “Do nothing and there is nothing that is not done”
Looks like an oxymoron. In fact what Taoism implies
is not taking action that is non
– purposive, non – productive and non – deliberate. The primary intent of
business is to achieve a host of purposes. According to Laozi contentment must
be the primary intent. In the case of business stakeholder value must be the
primary intent. Following that there would be several other purposes such as
achieving number one position in terms of competition, market share and revenue
generation. All these purposes must be
attuned to the centrality that is stakeholder value.
Towards achieving purposes there is an absolute
need to conform to ethics and standards which is called as “De” or virtue. All
Chinese businesses work on the ethical principles of bringing equality and equanimity
between the individual business and the larger society that provides raw
materials, human resources and other inputs. Furthermore there is corporate
responsibility towards protecting environment, human welfare and the wellbeing
of the society at large.
While profit making is the key driver in every
business, there is dichotomy
between desire and limitation. A company can dream to be the one and
only player in the market, just a wild desire, considering the limited amount
of resources available under its command or the lack of near total market
acceptance it can aspire for. Hence limitation factor overweighs upon desire.
Chinese business ethics dictate setting of reasonable and achievable goals. Business
strategist in China is compelled to make the right choice amongst alternative courses
of actions. Truly, Chinese
business dwells upon the dictum “means-ways–ends” critically yet with open mind.
Interestingly Taoism teaches Chines business strategists basic principle of working
out compromise or trade-off in order to bring a balance between desire and
limitation as well as virtue and non-action.
Cheers!
Muthu
Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business
Strategist
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