See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/307749445

Book:Business Sutra-A very Indian Approach to Management

Article  in  Adarsh Journal of Management Research · March 2013

DOI: 10.21095/ajmr/2013/v6/i1/88355

CITATIONS READS

0 2,591

1 author:

Seema Sambargi
Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology
10 PUBLICATIONS   8 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Seema Sambargi on 29 November 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Book Review
Book : Business Sutra - A very Indian approach to IVIanagement
Aut hor: Devdutt Pattanaik
Reviewed by : Seema Sambargi
Business Sutra: A very Indian Approach to w ide range of business and m anagerial issues of t he
M anagement. Devdut t Pat t anaik. N ew Delhi: Aleph m odern w orld. The kernel of Dr Pat t anaik's w ork is
Book Com pany, 2 0 1 3 . 4 3 5 p p t his idea- t he w ork place be com e s a rana-bhoomi

The new found confidence annong aut hors of (bat t le ground for various st akeholders) if w ealt h is

propagat ing all t hings Indian in t he recent past can chased, as against , a ranga-bhoomi (a t heat rical

be at t ribut ed t o exist ent ial crisis am ong t hinkers st age or playground^ w hen w ealt h is at t ract ed.

and m anage m e nt gurus of t he w est ern w orld. The For t hose fam iliar w it h Dr Devdut t Pat t anaik w orks,
t heories proposed by t he m have not been t he t hat include over t w ent y five books, four hundred
proverbial panacea and have failed t he e conom ie s art icles on Indian m yt hology, his colum n in t he
w orld over. Econom ic Tim es, t he very popular t alk he gave at t he

M anagem ent has been around for m ore t han TED India Conference in 2 0 0 9 and t he successful

m illennia and w e have had east ern t hinkers like show Business Sut ra on CN BC- TV 1 8 in 2 0 1 0 , t his

Confucius, Sun Tzu (The Art of W ar), Chanakya t om e se e m s t o be dist illat ion of m any ideas and

(Art hasasht ra) e spouse how a business or an concept s present ed in earlier w orks .Here t hey are

organizat ion ought to be conduct ed. But, for present ed in a unique and innovat ive fram ew ork

reasons hist orical or ot herw ise, w e have de pe nde d t hat t he aut hor calls t he SB (Belief, Behavior and

heavily on t he m odels and t he orie s (or t he Business) fram e w ork t hat at t em pt s at being an

supposed scient ism ) proposed by w est ern t hinkers alt ernat ive Indian approach t o m anage m e nt .

from Adam Sm it h t hrough Pet er Drucker. But, as
m ent ioned earlier, t his approach has not
w it hout pit falls....w hat w it h t he e conom ie s at t he
brinks of financial cliffs, leadership crises, et hical
bankrupt cies and such. It is in t his backdrop t hat
m anagem ent t heorist s and pract it ioners sit up and
not ice a w ork t hat claim s t o present s a radically
different and nuanced approach t o m anage m e nt ,
business and leadership.
In t his book. Dr. Devdut t Pat t anaik show s how
despit e its post uring of object ivit y, w est ern (read
m odern) m a na ge m e nt is root ed in
( Gre e k, biblical) be lie f s and is f ixat e d
accom plishing rigid obje ct ive s and
shareholder value. Dr.Pat t anaik, juxt aposes t his
w it h t he Indian approach (as apparent in her m yt hs
and folklore) of accom m odat ing subject ivit y and
diversity, offering an inclusive and em pat het ic w ay
to success. He uses st ories, sym bols and rit uals from
Hindu, Jain and Buddhist m yt hology t o underst and a
Dr Devdut t Pat t anaik w ho is t rained t o be a m edico
been and has spent fift een years in healt h care and
pharm aceut ical indust ries has been a self t aught
m yt hologist and has now t urned his passion into a
vocat ion by being a part of t he t hink t ank of t he
Fut ure Group as its Chief Belief Officer.
The ent ire book is present ed in t hre e sect ions-
'Int roduct ion' -w hich connect s Belief t o Business;
'From Goal t o Gaze' - w h i ch de code s W est ern,
Chinese and Indian Beliefs and 'Business Sutra"
(Sut ra are a set of rules or aphorism s in Sanskrit on a
occident al t e ch n i ca l su b j e ct ) . T h e r e are innum erable
w it h illust rat ions and line draw ings (w hich are t ypical
incre asing Devdut t st yle!) t hroughout t he book w hich help
underst and t he ideas and conce pt s. An o t h e r
im port ant facet of t he narrat ive st yle is t he presence
of case capsules t hat relat e t he esot eric conce pt s in
m yt hs and folklore t o t ypical incident s t hat occur on
a day t o day basis in business organizat ions big and
sm all across India.

Seema Sambargi
Professor,zyxwvutsrponmlkihgfedcbaTSROMEDCBA
Associate MBA Department
Adarsh Inst it ut e of M a n a ge m e n t and Inform at ion Technology
> J Bangalore. Em ail: se e m a sa m b a r gi@ gm a il. co m

Adarsii Journal of M anagem ent Research 79

 Th e i n t r o d u ct i o n se ct i o n p r o p o se s t he 3B are your feelings so is your behavior (t he svaha of
f ram e w ork as t he prennise of t he book and goe s on t he yagna); as is your svo/ 70 so is your tathastuW I
t o just ify as t o w hy t his is a very Indian approach by The t hird sect ion com prises of around 150 Business
revealing an alt ernat ive perspect ive t hat nnultiple sut ra present ed in five different chapt ers. The first
t rut hs can be celebrat ed and t hat hum an m ind can chapt er 'Kam a's Vision St at em ent ' explores t hrough
be e xp a n d e d t h a n ks to im aginat ion. This is t en aphorism s how im aginat ion t ransform s e ve ry
st art lingly different t he fram ew orks t hat w e have hum an int o Brahm a, t he creat or of t he yagna. Th e
been i n d o ct r i n a t e d w here o b j e ct i v i t y is next t hree chapt ers explore t he conce pt s on Drishti,
cham pione d. A fresh fram ew ork of Business sut ra Divya Drishti and Darshan, w hich de t e rm ine t he
w hich is prim arily subject ive is proposed. Every idea qualit y of t he yagna. Each of t he se chapt ers is
is t hought of as a dot w hich could be a part of infinit e furt her subdivided int o se gm e nt s- each se gm e n t
num be r of beaut iful pat t erns, e ach self sufficient elucidat ing an idea. Th e final chapt er 'Yam a's
pat t ern b e in ga p a r t o f a bigge r one ! ! balance sheet explores t he im pact of t he yagna on
In t he se cond sect ion 'Goal t o Gaze', W est ern, t he yajaman.
Chine se and Indian beliefs are de code d. The aut hor, The aut hor se e m s t o have been m indful of t he fact
in t his sect ion, elucidat es how everyt hing de pe nds t hat he has used m any non English (read Sanskrit )
on each of our beliefs. W hile t he 'object ive' w est ern w ords t o explain t he indigenous concept s. M any
beliefs prem ise t hat t here is only one life and one w ords are non t ranslat able and m any ideas cannot
goal and hence are conce rne d w it h 'w hat ?' of be succinct ly explained in English as w it h Sanskrit
business and t he 'pragm at ic' Chine se beliefs seek w ords. That explains t he sect ion on Business Sut ra
orde r and keeping out chaos and hence conce rne d Vocabulary. The re is also an Index of all t he Business
w it h 'how ?' of business, t he Indian beliefs seek Sut ra.
'peace' as t he m ind is very aw are of subject ive goals
As you read t he book, you invariably st art cross
of different people .It is t hus conce rne d w it h t he
checking each sut ra w it h t he com parable HBR
' w hy?' of business.
influenced w est ern m a na ge m e nt principles and
In t he w est ern belief syst em one's belief t hat m odels. In fact , you m ight even st art enjoying t his
aut horit y w ill exploit you or t he belief t hat leaders int ellect ually invigorat ing ga m e of m apping t he
care f o r yo u w ill m ake you behave in a defiant w ay or ideas and conce pt s in t his book t o t he one s w e are
loyal w ay t hus m aking t he goal of one's life or indoct rinat ed w it h. Also, t he illust rat ions are highly
business individual act ualizat ion or collect ive good im pressive and are super successf ul in driving hom e
respect ively. In t he Chine se syst em , one's belief t hat t he ideas. Th e best t hing about t his book is t hat it
social hierarchy should reflect celest ial organizat ion does not de m and a linear reading-you could ope n
and t hat nat ural forces should be t rust ed im plicit ly any page and st art reading.
w ill m ake you indulge in rit uals as if t hey w ere
Alt hough t he aut hor has forcefully argue d and
virt ues and st rive for balance in opposing forces of
art iculat ed his view point , non Indian readers m ight
nat ure t hus m aking order and harm ony t he goals of
find it challenging t o grasp it in one reading as it
one's life and business.
heavily uses non English w ords. Also f rom acade m ic
In cont rast t o t hese, t he aut hor opines, in India st and point , t he disclaim e r from t he aut hor
,one's beliefs about t he w orld view (darshan/ gaze), w i t h st a n d i n g, it rem ains to be se e n how
personalit y, m indset and feelings w ill m ake you im p le m e n t a b le t he
t he fram e w ork is. Also
invest zyxwvutsrponmlkjihgfedcbaZWVUTSRPNMIGDCBA
{svaha) in your life/ business as if it w ere a fram ew ork lacks t est abilit y, rigor and is far f rom
'yagna' w it h t he goal being t he 'tathastu' of t he being parsim onious.
devat a being invoked. The 'tathastu' It self is again
All in all; t his is a highly r e com m e nde d book t hat
very subject ive based t he 'yajaman' w ho conduct s
m ight se r ve yo u as go o d st a r t in g point to
t his yagna. As is your w orld view so is your
underst and yourself, your t eam , organizat ion and
personalit y; as is your personalit y so is your
societ y!
m indset ; as is your m indset so are your feelings; as

Adarsii Journal of M anagem ent Research 80

View publication stats