As far as Conzerv and its stakeholders were concerned, TT, Ashok and I were united in our determination to run and grow the business ethica...
As far as Conzerv and its stakeholders were concerned, TT, Ashok and I were united in our determination to run and grow the business ethically, or not at all. The most challenging, but the most rewarding part of our job was to make ethical practices a pillar of our business culture. Was it easy?
Obviously not! In fact, on some days it seemed like a futile and frustrating endeavour. Yet, there were many reasons why we kept at it, not least because we had gathered a team of people in the senior and middle leadership who enjoyed working with us because we were ethical and because our code of conduct mirrored their personal values.
When David Kiron, the case writer from HBS, asked Ashok, ‘Why do you think it is worth it?’ Ashok said ‘it’s a question of the long-term versus the short-term.’
Our view was that making compromises might help you get ahead in the short term but playing the long game needs zero tolerance for corruption.
“Run a business in India without corruption? Impossible!”
“He’s right! This case can’t have got it right. My family has run a business in India for decades and I can tell you this is BS. Especially for a small company like Conzerv!”
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