Chapter: 2Chapter: 2 Literature Reviewshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8469/5/05_chapter 2.pdf · Gandhi approached the concept of trusteeship at four different levels

Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad Trusteeship, Corporate Social Responsibility & Peace

R.N.Prasad (Registration No. 108654) Page 6

Chapter: 2Chapter: 2Chapter: 2Chapter: 2

Literature Review

Introduction

Literature Review is an important step in any research study. In the

present research work, three key aspects – Trusteeship, Corporate Social

Responsibility and Peace – and their interrelationship are to be studied in

depth. In this chapter, these aspects have been discussed and deliberated

upon based on various literatures on the subject and information available

on websites. The chapter also deals with evolution of the concepts of

Trusteeship and Corporate Social Responsibility in India and abroad.

These study materials have helped in deciding the road map for the

research

Trusteeship

Regarding Trusteeship, MAHATMA GANDHI1 once said - The act of

renunciation of everything is not a mere physical renunciation, but

represents a second or new birth. It is a deliberate act, not done in

ignorance. It is, therefore, a regeneration. Mahatma Gandhi believed

that all human beings are implicitly responsible to God, their family and

to themselves for their use and treatment of all goods, gifts and talents

that fall within their domain. There is a divine element in all of us. We

incarnate our divinity when we deliberately and joyously nurture our

abilities and assets for the sake of the larger good. In this sense, the finest

exemplars of trusteeship are those who treat all possessions as though

they were sacred or deeply precious beyond any worldly scale of

1 1M.K. Gandhi, "The Golden Key", Harijan, January 30, 1937



valuation. Thus, it is only through daily moral choice and the meritorious

use of resources that we sustain our inherited or acquired entitlements.

For this reason, the very idea of ownership is misleading and, at root, a

form of violence. It implies rights and privileges over Man and Nature

that go beyond the bounds of human need–although not necessarily

beyond the limits of human law and social custom. It obscures the

generous bounty of Nature, which provides enough for all if each holds in

trust only what he needs, without excess or exploitation.

Gandhi sensed that all our resources and possessions, at any level, are not

merely fragments of the Divine but are also inherently mortal. The Divine

in its active aspect is ceaselessly creative and ever fluid in form. By

analogy, human needs and material circumstances alter even while

cultural patterns and social customs purport to maintain temporal

continuity through established traditions. Ownership, from this

standpoint, is truly a costly and illusory attempt to ensure permanency

and succession. It gives birth to unwarranted attachments and

insupportable expectations. The selfish grasping for possessions of any

kind not only violates the deeper purposes of our human odyssey but

eventually breeds possessiveness and greed, exploitation and revenge.

This appalling moral malaise leads to inordinate self-assertion and self-

projection which can only yield distrust, sorrow and "loss of all". But

when we attain the sacred mental posture of the trustee who regards all

possessions as held in trust for the good of all, we can progressively

approach the high spiritual state of mental renunciation. We can, in the

Upanishadic phrase, "renounce and enjoy". It is only when we voluntarily

relinquish our unnatural claims and consecrate ourselves to a higher

purpose that we can freely enjoy what we have. Thus, self-satisfaction is

a natural outcome of a generous perspective and a greater purity of heart.



It is truly a function of the harmonious cultivation of our spiritual, mental

and material resources. In Gandhian terms, guilt-free enjoyment is

inseparable from ethical probity. The real issue, then, is not how much or

how little we possess in the way of property or talent, but the reasons and

motives behind their allocations and uses.

Gandhi approached the concept of trusteeship at four different levels.

First of all, trusteeship, as the sole universalizable means of continuously

redistributing wealth, could be seen as a corollary of the principle of non-

violence and simultaneously assure the generation and intelligent use of

wealth.

No other theory is compatible with non-violence. In the non-violent

method the wrongdoer compasses his own end, if he does not undo the

wrong. For, either through Non-violent Non-co-operation he is made to

see his error, or he finds himself completely isolated2.

Even if wealth could be coercively redistributed, the resulting greed and

inexperience on the part of many and the resentment on the part of the

dispossessed would lead to economic instability and rapid decline. More

likely than not, it would lead to class war, anomic violence and

widespread self-alienation. Trusteeship, however, encourages owners to

see themselves as vigilant trustees of their accumulated wealth for the

larger community without threatening them.

Secondly, Gandhi's practical psychological intuition allowed him to see

that fear would prevent other means of economic distribution from

succeeding in the long run. A fundamental change in the concepts of

activity and courage is needed to overcome passivity and cowardice. The

fearful man tyrannizes others: forced redistribution would bring fearful

2 M.K. Gandhi, "Theory of 'Trusteeship'", Harijan, December 16, 1939



responses from owners, who would see their lives and futures threatened,

and fearful masses would deal with excess wealth incompetently. For

Gandhi, the ever-present possibility of social change must be approached

from a position of truth and courage, whereas fear is weakness which

leads to violence. Strength should not be mistaken for the modalities of

violence, which are instruments of fear and always lead to varying

degrees of self-destruction. Since strength rests on human dignity and

respect, workers must approach exploitative capitalists from a position of

self-respect based on the capital of labour, for "labour is as much capital

as metal". To abolish fear and even failure itself requires a fundamental

change in the social structure. The feasibility of this social transformation

does not lie in denying the judgements of others, but rather in regarding

them as partially relevant though in no sense compelling.

Therefore, workers, instead of regarding themselves as enemies of the

rich, or regarding the rich as their natural enemies, should hold their

labour in trust for those who are in need of it. This they can do only

when, instead of feeling so utterly helpless as they do, they realize

their importance in human economy and shed their fear or distrust of

the rich. Fear and distrust are twin sisters born of weakness. When

labour realizes its strength it won't need to use any force against

moneyed people. It will simply command their attention and respect3.

Gandhi discerned the critical role acceptability plays in legitimating a

social order, and distinguished between a people's tacit acceptance and

active dislike of an economic regime. So long as any society finds its

socio-economic system acceptable, that system will stand even if a

militant minority detests it. But should a significant number of

3 M.K. Gandhi, "Letter to B. Srirangasayi", The Hindu, October 11, 1934



individuals find it unacceptable, it is shaken to its foundations, regardless

of the complacency of privileged elities.

Thirdly, Gandhi contended that the idea of trusteeship could be put into

practice non-violently, because it could be instituted by degrees. When

asked if such 'trustees'–individuals who possessed wealth and yet saw

themselves as stewards for society–could be found in India in his day, he

rejected the question as strictly irrelevant to the theory, which can only be

evaluated by extensive testing over time.

Gandhi once told - At this point I may be asked as to how many

trustees of this type one can really find. As a matter of fact, such a

question should not arise at all. It is not directly related to our theory.

There may be just one such trustee or there may be none at all. Why

should we worry about it? We should have faith that we can, without

violence or with so little violence that it can hardly be called violence,

create such a feeling among the rich. We should act in that faith.

That is sufficient for us. We should demonstrate through our

endeavour that we can end economic disparity with the help of non-

violence. Only those who have no faith in non-violence can ask how

many trustees of this kind can be found4. Gandhi knew that he sought

the widespread realization of a forgotten ideal, but he repudiated the

conventional notion that an experiment is unworthy to be tried simply

because it stems from an exacting ideal. Even if one argued that

trusteeship was doomed to failure, it ran no greater risk than the

conventional social proposals of the day. Committed to principles but

flexible in policies, Gandhi saw no reason to neglect ideals and to

4 M.K. Gandhi, "Answers to Questions at Gandhi Seva Sangh Meeting, Brindaban–II", Gandhi Seva Sanghke Panchama Varshik Adhiveshan (Brindaban, Bihar) ka Vivaran, pp. 50-9. Cf. "Gandhi Seva Sangh –IV: More Communings", by M.D., Harijan, June 3, 1939



institute social reforms from a defeatist standpoint. Such an approach

only guaranteed that structural faults would be built into the new social

order. Rather, he emphasized, it is better to move towards the ideal and

make appropriate adjustments necessitated by the specific failures

encountered in attempting to reach it. In doing so, principles would

remain uncompromised and the possibility of improvement would

always remain, whereas in a system which assumes cupidity and

corruption in human nature, nothing encourages their eradication.

Gandhi not only had faith that it was possible for human beings to

become trustees of their resources for the sake of all, but also that many

in fact were already and had always been trustees. They are the

preservers of culture and tradition, who show their ethical stance

through countless daily acts of graciousness and concern for others. To

treat man as man requires not so much the acceptance of the equal

potentialities of all men, let alone the infinite potentialities of all men,

but rather the acceptance of the unknown potentialities of all human

beings. Given scarce resources and the limits of productivity and of

taxable income, there are definitely limits to what the State can do, but

is there any reason why voluntary associations should not be entrusted

with the task of extending the avenues of opportunity available to the

disinherited? The socialist could argue that by an indefinite extension

of opportunities (not always requiring State action) and by changing

not only the structure but the entire ethos and moral tone of society,

new social values could slowly emerge and usher in an era in which

men show mutual respect which is not based on skills and promotions,

rank and status.

The minimal goal of basic economic equity is easily stated, yet it is the

fundamental first stage for the uplift of the whole. In words of Gandhi,



Everybody should be able to get sufficient work to make the two ends

meet. And, this ideal can be universally realized only if the means of

production of elementary necessaries of life remain under the control

of the masses. These should be freely available to all as God's air and

water are, or ought to be; they should not be made a vehicle of traffic

for the exploitation of others. Their monopolization by any country,

nation or groups of persons would be unjust. The neglect of this

simple principle is the cause of the destitution that we witness to-day,

not only in this unhappy land, but other parts of the world, too5.

The principle of trusteeship in its application to the equitable distribution

of wealth, as well as to the non-violent socialist reformation it underpins,

is practicable because it does not require everyone to undertake it all at

once. Unlike most socialists who reason that they must seize the power of

the State before instituting effective reforms, Gandhi held that

enlightened individuals could initiate the process of divesting themselves

of what is unnecessary while becoming true trustees of their own

possessions.

Gandhi said - It is perfectly possible for an individual to adopt this

way of life without having to wait for others to do so. And if an

individual can observe a certain rule of conduct, it follows that a

group of individuals can do likewise. It is necessary for me to

emphasize the fact that no one need wait for anyone else in order to

adopt a right course. Men generally hesitate to make a beginning, if

they feel that the objective cannot be had in its entirety. Such an

attitude of mind is in reality a bar to progress6.

5 M.K. Gandhi, "Economic Constitution of India", Young India, November 15, 1928 6 M.K. Gandhi, "Equal Distribution", Harijan, August 25, 1940.



Once the barrier in consciousness is broken, the principle of trusteeship

can be made to work by letting go of the demand for a mechanically

equal distribution, something Gandhi doubted could ever be realized.

Instead, he held to the revolutionary ideal of equitable distribution, which

would not only be possible but necessary in the non-violent socialist

State.

Gandhi said - If the trusteeship idea catches, philanthropy, as we

know it, will disappear.... A trustee has no heir but the public7.

Gradually, statutory trusteeship could be introduced in which the duties

of the trustee and the public could be formalized. The trustee may serve

so long as the people find his services beneficial. He may even

designate his successor, but the people must confirm it. Should the

State become involved, the trustee's power of appointment and the

State's power of review will strike a balance in which the welfare of the

people will be safeguarded.

Fourthly and finally, Gandhi believed that social conditions were ripe for

imaginative applications of the principle of trusteeship. The collapse of

Western imperialsim, the spiritual and social poverty of fascism and

totalitarianism, the psychological failure of capitalism, the moral

bankruptcy of state socialism and the ideological inflexibility of

communism all indicate an ineluctable if gradual movement towards a

reconstitution of the social order which will compel some form of

redistribution.

The limits to growth make themselves felt through the undermining of

social virtues like trust and truthfulness, restraint and mutual acceptance,

as well as a sense of fraternal obligation, all of which are essential to

7 M.K. Gandhi, "A Question", Harijan April 12, 1942.



individual initiative in a contractual economic system. If such virtues are

treated as public goods necessary to universal welfare, then unrestricted

individualism faces noticeable limits, lest the social justification and

viability of the whole system be destroyed. C.B. MacPherson went so far

as to predict that the time will come when it will no longer be feasible to

put acquisition ahead of spiritual values, and that national power will

become a function not of market power but of moral stature.

According to Gandhi, the rich should ponder well as to what is their

duty today. They who employ mercenaries to guard their wealth may

find those very guardians turning on them. The moneyed classes have

got to learn how to fight either with arms or with the weapons of non-

violence.... I see coming the day of the rule of the poor, whether that

rule be through force of arms or of non-violence8.

Even though the war against poverty will take a long time to win, it is

necessary for the State to adopt various measures to reduce the sharp

economic inequalities that undermine the working of mass democracy,

and to strengthen the organizing power of peasants, artisans, and

industrial and clerical workers. In addition to fiscal and monetary

measures to reduce income ceilings, it would be desirable to assist

wealthy landlords and industrialists in parting with portions of their

wealth, property and earnings as public contributions towards specific

local schemes and plans. The more the redistributive process can be

extended beyond legal compulsion and political action, the more

democracy is strengthened at the social level. The more the State can

bring together representatives of richer and poorer groups, stronger and

8 M.K. Gandhi, "Advice to the Rich", Harijan, February 1, 1942



weaker sections of society, in planning local programs, the better it will

be for all.

Owing to his unshakeable conviction that violence can never produce

permanent results, only Gandhi's modesty prevented him from asserting

that his ethical solution would come to be seen as the only feasible

alternative to wholesale misery and destruction, if not now, then in the

foreseeable future. He deliberately avoided elaborating a complete system

of statutory or voluntary trusteeship out of the conviction that structural

and organizational details necessarily varied with the social and political

context and with the personnel, whilst the essential core of the ideal was

universally applicable. Thus he could gain a serious hearing from those

who would be most affected by the implementation of his proposals

without threatening them.

To conclude with, Gandhi was very optimistic about implementation of

Trusteeship as is evident from his following quote: I am not ashamed

to own that many capitalists are friendly towards me and do not fear

me. They know that I desire to end capitalism almost, if not quite, as

much as the most advanced Socialist or even Communist. But our

methods differ, our languages differ. My theory of 'trusteeship' is no

make-shift, certainly no camouflage. I am confident that it will

survive all theories9.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has permeated management

practice and theory up to a point where CSR can be referred to as the

latest management fad (Guthey, Langer, & Morsing, 2006). However, so

far CSR integration into business processes has been very uneven.

9 M.K. Gandhi, "Theory of 'Trusteeship'", loc. Cit



Hockerts (2008), for example, finds that most firms conceptualize CSR

primarily as a tool to reduce risks and operational cost.

CSR BETWEEN LEGITIMACY, ETHICS, STAKEHOLDER, DIALOGUE,

AND SUSTAINABILE DEVELOPMENT : In recent years the business

strategy field has experienced the renaissance of corporate social

responsibility (CSR) as a major topic of interest. The concept has not

surfaced for the first time. CSR had already known considerable interest

in the 1960s and 70s, spawning a broad range of scholarly contributions

(Cheit, 1964; Heald, 1970; Ackermann & Bauer, 1976; Carroll, 1979),

and a veritable industry of social auditors and consultants. However, the

topic all but vanished from most managers' minds in the 1980s (Dierkes

& Antal, 1986; Vogel, 1986). Having blossomed in the 1970s, CSR all

but vanished and only re-emerged in recent years.

CSR resurfaced forcefully over the past ten years in response to mounting

public concern about globalization. Firms find themselves held

responsible for human rights abuses by their suppliers in developing

countries; interest groups demand corporate governance to be transparent

and accountable; rioters from Seattle to Genoa protest violently against

the cost of free trade and other perceived negative consequences of

globalization. However, nearly two decades of neglect have helped to

undo much of the past achievements of corporate social responsibility. It

is thus no surprise that both practitioners and scholars are struggling once

again to answer the question what the strategic implications of CSR are.

The literature on CSR draws on a number of different theoretical

traditions, which often are in contradiction to each other. Wood (1991)

describes three levels of analysis: institutional, individual, and

organizational. A fourth level which may be added as ‘global’ one.



INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL: CSR AS ORGANIZATIONAL LEGITIMACY :

Davis (1973) describes the iron law of responsibility, as the fact that

firms exercising power will eventually be held accountable by society. At

this level CSR can be best understood as a quest for organizational

legitimacy. Firms are under the obligation not to abuse the power

invested on them by society or they risk losing society’s implicit

endorsement. More recently this view point has resurfaced as a firm’s

need to retain its “license to operate” (Post, Preston, & Sachs, 2002: 21).

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL: CSR AS MORAL CHOICES OF MANAGERS:At

the individual level, CSR has been constructed by Ackermann (1976) as

managerial discretion. According to this view managerial actions are not

fully defined by corporate policies and procedures. So although managers

are constrained by their work environment they nonetheless have to

weigh the moral consequences of the choices they make. The view of

CSR is strongly anchored in the business ethics literature (Jones,

1991;Donaldson & Dunfee, 1994; Crane & Matten, 2003).

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL: CSR AS STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT:

With Freeman’s (1984) seminal book the focus moved from legitimacy

and morals towards a new theory of the firm. Social considerations are

thus no longer outside an organization but are part of its purpose of being.

CSR thus becomes a question of stakeholder identification, involvement,

and communication (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997; Morsing &

Beckmann, 2006; Morsing & Schultz, 2006). “The purpose of stakeholder

management was to devise a framework to manage strategically the

myriad groups that influenced, directly and indirectly, the ability of a firm

to achieve its objectives.” (Freeman & Velamuri, 2006). The aim of

stakeholder management is thus to analyze how a company can serve its

customers and be lucrative while also serving its other stakeholders such



as suppliers, employees, and communities. Recently the stakeholder

perspective has dominated the reinterpretation of CSR pushing the

question of the legitimacy of corporate power as well as the moral

dimension of managerial decisions more into the background.

GLOBAL LEVEL: CSR AS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT :The latest

understanding of corporate social responsibility is that of sustainable

development. It was the Brundtland Commission (1987) that for the first

time systematically emphasized the link between poverty, environmental

degradation, and economic development. Its definition of sustainable

development, as meeting the needs of the present, without compromising

the ability of future generations to meet theirs, extends the responsibility

of firms both inter- and intra-generationally. Thus firms are expected to

also consider traditionally unrepresented stakeholders such as the

environment and as well as future generations. Although many CSR

authors have taken up the notion of a “triple bottom line” (Elkington,

1997) there remain important tensions between the CSR and the

sustainable development debate (i.e.Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002).

Now, hereunder follows few examples of CSR, which are inspiring:

ABN AMRO: ABN AMRO is a Dutch corporation working in the

financial service industry. It was acquired in 2007 by a consortium of

three European banks, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Fortis, and Banco

Santander. Before this take over, ABN AMRO had initiated a large scale

acquisition scheme in Brazil in 1998. The take over of several major

Brazilian banks resulted in the establishment of Banco ABN AMRO

Real. This new consortium took some pioneering initiatives like the

establishment of a new social-environmental policy when making

decisions on loans, the creation of the Real MicroCrédito, which provided



financing for small business and entrepreneurs, and the implementation of

the Ethical Fund, which was the first Social Responsible Investment fund

in Brazil. These initiatives were primarily led as a first mover within the

Brazilian market, and introduced in a market context with little previous

experience in social banking practices.

ELECTRICITÉ DE FRANCE : The French electricity company

focuses on electricity access in developing parts of the world. The

initiative, Energy Access Programme through Rural Electricity and

Services Companies, has helped bringing electricity to rural areas of

Mali, Morocco and South Africa, which would have been otherwise ‘off

the grid.’ EDF has brought electricity to 800,000 people and the 2010

goal is one million people. EDF considers this ‘a drop in the ocean’ but

emphasizes the difference they make in these specific countries. Around

8-10 per cent of electricity is provided through this initiative, affecting a

lot of people and businesses within the region. One of the projects in

Morocco is called Temasol and has provided solar energy for more than

20,000 households in rural areas. Temasol has undertaken a pilot project

of delivering drinking water to the same households, while at the same

time extending operations to other parts of the country. The initiatives are

innovating both in terms of social capacity building, while at the same

time having a low environmental impact. It is an important first step, and

a basis for other people to further develop infrastructure in these

communities. The presence in these markets has allowed the company to

innovate social schemes further in areas of housing, employment and

education.



ESSILOR INTERNATIONAL : Social innovation in the French

company is realized through value-led innovation systems and Base of

the pyramid activities. Essilor International has developed both

manufacturing and distribution systems in rural India for optical lenses.

The initiative was undertaken in the absence of adequate eye care

facilities, which resulted in very low usage of spectacles. Uncorrected

refractive error is one of the major causes of blindness, which if detected

and corrected, would give a fresh lease of life to individuals. In 2004,

Essilor India established a Rural Marketing Division. Access was even

more important than costs so innovation within both manufacturing and

distribution was urgent. After an initial study of the situation, Essilor

realized that the lack of consumption of spectacles was connected to a

lack of product access. Essilor has now developed a system of mobile low

cost testing in rural areas as a means to reach the remote, rural population

of India and manufacture cheap, affordable products through a steep

learning curve and immense scale in production.

NOVO NORDISK : Stakeholder-driven innovation is at the core of

social innovation in Novo Nordisk. Several programmes have been

initiated during the past decade, all with global perspectives and growth

potential. Novo Nordisk has undertaken a shift from an internal focus to a

reflective view through a corporate history and culture that lays the

foundation for its values-based and holistic approach to doing business.

By establishing the link between health as a driver of wealth, it has been

possible to pursue Triple Bottom Line strategies in a way that

increasingly gets at the heart of core business processes – in the markets,

as well as in the corporate functions and governance mechanisms. The

approach is shaped through extensive stakeholder engagement embedded

in organisational behaviour and business operations. An example of these



stakeholder-driven initiatives is the DAWN programme, the largest-ever,

global survey to uncover diabetes attitudes, wishes and needs. The study

focuses on the person behind the disease and is aimed to uncover the

psychosocial aspects of diabetes. The DAWN programme taught all

parties involved, that the patients also need mental encouragement and

positive guidance empowering them to take charge of their own health.

Such innovation in public health promotion activities help effectively

reduce the burden of diseases such as diabetes. Furthermore, Novo

Nordisk is driving National Diabetes Programmes to educate stakeholders

as well as actively supporting the growing international advocacy

platform to put chronic disease prevention on the political agenda. One

such initiative is the Oxford Health Alliance.

PHILIPS : The Green Flagships project at Philips is a gathering and

quantitative measuring of the best lighting products. To be considered a

Green Flagship, a product must first undergo a ivisional EcoDesign

procedure. Next, the product or product family is investigated in at least

three of the six Green Focal Areas. These Green Focal Areas consist of

Energy Efficiency, Recyclability, Lifetime Reliability, Packaging,

Hazardous Substances and Weight. Based on this analysis, the product or

product family must be proven to offer at least 10% improved

environmental performance in at least one Green Focal Area compared to

a predecessor or competitive product, and the overall lifecycle score must

be equal or better. So while many products may be “green”, only the top

Eco-designed products achieve Green Flagship status. A Philips Green

Flagship product is a best environmental choice and a product that either

has the best environmental performance in the market, is the most

innovative environmental friendly product in its portfolio, or is the best

environmental solution in its application area. The development of Green



Energy has experienced a major boom within the last decade. The

labelling of green energy “cleantech” is increasingly attracting finance

from both venture capital and MNCs. The Green Flagship label is an

example of this environmental progress.

PROCTER & GAMBLE : Proctor & Gamble provides an example of a

social innovative product that failed to be marketed for profit. The case is

a water purification system called PUR, which P&G developed in

collaboration with the US Centre for Disease Control for commercial

markets, targeting low income consumers. The product had clear social

benefits, providing clean drinking water for households in places where

the health risks of untreated drinking water are high, especially for

children. After three years of market tests though, PUR was looking like a

commercial failure. Many other firms would have closed down the

project, but P&G instead moved PUR to its corporate sustainability

department, where focus no longer relied solely on making a profit. Since

2003, P&G has sold the product at cost and worked in partnership with

non-profit organisations, who distribute the product through their

development and humanitarian relief networks. However, by using the

marketplace P&G felt they could relieve people at a global level whereas

philanthropic activity would not be as effective. Using social marketing

models by collaborating with NGOs created greater impact than

commercial marketing.

TELENOR : In 1997 Telenor initiated a joint venture between Telenor

and Grameen Bank. The partnership led to the formation of two separate

organizations, GrameenPhone and GrameenTelecom. It was operated by

experienced Telenor managers with a strategic objective to maximize

financial returns; Grameen- Telecom was set up as the administrative

interface to the existing Grameen Bank. This development bank, founded



by Muhammad Yunus in 1976, provides microfinance for millions of

poor people in the more than 60,000 rural villages throughout

Bangladesh. As such, Telenor could benefit from market access and

distribution systems and Grameen could introduce new types of product

utilization into their business model. Furthermore, it provided Telenor

with effective selection methods of phone owners and payment methods

by using the experience of the Grameen Bank. The business model is

build around a high degree of social interactivity in rural villages, where

people use the new systems both to enrich their private communication

facility and enhance business capabilities. (The Academy of

Management Perspectives, vol. 21, number 4 (2007) pp 49-63)

TRYGVESTA : TrygVesta strives to create innovations that make a

difference for individuals and society in general using people with

backgrounds in humanistic disciplines such as philosophy, theatre

science, music and design in addition to the classical economical and

technological disciplines. With the creation of their Business Lab

focusing on Corporate Social Innovation, TrygVesta is launching

incubator programmes; among these the Corporate Venturing project,

which helps the creation of new ventures that build on socially innovative

ideas. The natural interest in Social Innovation by TrygVesta is created

through the risk sharing between the company and customers in the

insurance industry. It is a social contract that connects the actors, where

socially innovative schemes are generating value for both TrygVesta and

customers. This process is fundamental to success since it requires

acceptance and support from all parties involved.

UNILEVER : Unilever defines their social innovation as utilizing

consumer concerns about social and environmental issues. These provide

opportunities for brands to connect with their consumers at a deeper level



and, in doing so, gain competitive and sales advantage through cross-

sector partnerships. This allows Unilever to do business and tackle social

problems at the same time. Unilever focuses on the emerging markets. To

achieve optimal results for both the company and local societal

development, local markets must teach and change Unilever, not the other

way around. Exploiting local strengths instead of trying to overcome

local weaknesses is at the core of business activities. An example of the

social innovation initiatives at Unilever is the Lifebuoy soap to help

reduce child mortality of diarrhoea. Obstacles faced especially in India

are illiteracy, rural masses not reached by mass-media, and perceptions

that if hands look clean they are clean. To overcome these obstacles,

Unilever has initiated the largest rural health and hygiene education

programme ever undertaken in India. Education teams are visiting

communities and schools to reach the broad masses. In order to help low

income households the soap is sold in 18-gram bars, enough for one

person to wash their hands once a day for 10 weeks. Another project is

the “Shakri”, which deals with reaching small Indian villages with less

than 2,000 people. Lack of retail distribution networks to reach the

500,000 smaller villages brought innovative thinking at the core of

strategy. The solution was recruiting women from these small villages to

act as freelance direct sales operators. Cooperation between Unilever and

many women’s self-help groups (Indian NGOs) provided training and

education to these women and made them local

entrepreneurs. The women typically doubled the household income

tending to use the money on education for their children. Since 2000,

Unilever has extended Shakri to cover 80,000 villages. There are many

more product examples for instance in India, Indonesia and Brazil.



Peace

Both Galtung and Dasgupta discard the traditional meaning of peace and

develop a new concept of peace. The old idea of peace is a synonym for

harmony. Secondly there is the idea of peace as the absence of organized

collective violence. Galtung refers to harmony as a state of equilibrium

between opposed forces within or between actors i.e human beings, both

at the individual or single level (micro level) and national or multigroup

level (macro level). Usually this equilibrium is not dynamic but static and

in this sense, says Galtung, peace means absence of violence, and

harmony becomes a necessary or sufficient condition for peace. He

therefore names absence of manifest violence as negative peace and

develops a concept of positive peace. Dasgupta holds that peace and war

are interrelated, one negating the other. In the Western hemishere, peace

and war are incompatible phenomenon and therefore, war and

peacelessness are also interrelated concepts. According to Dasgupta,

absence of war, violence, tension and exploitation constitute only the

negative concept of peace. Its positive aspects are processes of human

and social development and fostering of a dynamics of constant societal

change in a planned and man -oriented direction. Even while trying to

maintain negative peace the absence of direct or manifest violence and

exploitation is not enough, the absence of latent or structural violence is

equally important. Violence lies deep in the micro-segments of the

society and in the minds of the men. The new concept of peace therefore

stands for peace with development and is linked with all manifestations

of peace, peacelessness, maldevelopment, violence and social change. In

formulating a new concept of peace, Dasgupta elaborates the concept of

the peace as enunciated by Gandhi. To define 'Peace' Gandhi starts other

way round. He first defines its antonym 'Violence'. However, by violence



Gandhi did not mean only 'force', 'coercion' or 'bloodshed'. Violence

according to him, includes exploitation - economic, social and political,

of nations by nations, of individuals by individuals, of women by men, of

individuals and systems by individuals and systems, of men and society

by machines and systems, and vice versa. Its antonym is Non-violence.

This is the other name of Peace. So, Peace is thus not a static concept but

a dynamic positive entity.

Dasgupta states that if the study of a problem is so handled that it leads to

an understanding of elements responsible for ‘peacelessness’ or helps in

predicting steps for fighting violence – both manifest and latent – and

promoting social development and change in national and supernatural

contexts, then only a piece of work could be as classified as Peace

Research. Viewed from this perspective, there are indeed many problems

which do not have to do anything, in one sense or other, with peace and

therefore with Peace Research. Quoting Gunnar Myrdal, Dasgupta define

Peace Research as a systematic study in the diverse fields of the social

sciences as a result of which our understanding of conflicts, tensions and

wars improves, and that it is as old as the social science research itself.

Peace Research has till now been mainly concerned with the problems of

peace and war, with horizontal political conflicts between the ruling elites

of different nations. According to the new definition of peace, wars are to

be viewed along a continuum between the national and international

conflict. A close link between maldevelopment, poverty, internal violence

and war is thus easily discernible. Anti-war campaigns and non-violent

actions are then essentially vertical struggles. These actions, say

Dasgupta, aim not only at ending wars or violence but the elimination of

all sorts of violence and exploitation from all levels of society. It is a

movement for total and fundamental change. Non-violence according to



this theory is not an antidote to violence but an alternate force for social

change and is help to the ‘underdog’ - the Daridranarayan as Gandhi

called them. So, as per this thought, Peace Action intends for

establishment of a new society and theories of peace are to be projected

as theories of struggle and change. Thus the concept of peace research

needs to be viewed in the context of new concept of peace. Any plan for

development of a curriculum for study as well as for research in the area

should keep this fundamental conceptual situation in mind. This would

help, says Dasgupta, to offer a reorientation to the entire discipline and

bring its focus upon ‘Peace and Non-violence’ for intra-societal as well

as international change and conflict resolutions. This new discipline

needs to be developed, therefore, as an integrated unit of research,

education and practice. The concept and method of Peace Research

should be interdisciplinary in the sense that Peace Research should draw

from various sciences which have bearing on the new theme of social

change and international relations.

Gultang is of the view that Peace Research does not belong to any

particular existing discipline. It is free to develop in any direction

researchers might take it, as long as goals are kept in mind. In that sense,

it is interdisciplinary. Peace research will, in no sense, be incompatible

with seeing world problems from the angle of the nation in which the

researcher lives. In fact, its perspective is global. Researcher has to act

like a transnational researcher.

Peace Research in India is in embryonic stage. Gandhian Institute of

Studies at Varanasi, Peace Foundation at New Delhi, Department of

Sociology, University of Rajasthan at Jaipur, Peace Mission in Nagaland

and Gujarat Vidyapith at Ahmedabad have carried out studies or held



conferences on Peace Research. So, Peace Research is in a formative

research in India.

One encouraging feature of Peace Research in India unlike in the West is

emphasis on structural violence as well as on direct violence and on

positive aspects of Peace. While most of Peace Research in the West

relates to problems of international relations, nuclear disarmament,

superpowers and UNO. Dasgupta says that very little (in West) has been

done in field of intra-societal tensions and conflicts, on problems of

structural violence, systems of land tenure, production activities,

industrial scenario, Role of corporate sector in reducing tension in the

society, educational systems and social organizations working for peace

or moral values.

Galtung is of the opinion that India is in a very strong position to take

initiative in Peace Research and there are four very strong points in the

Indian tradition that would enrich further the world peace research

movement. These points are a) general Indian philosophical tradition

about Man, Society and the World, b) the Gandhian tradition, particularly

Satyagraha as a theory and practice of conflict, c) India’s peculiar

structure (which is in many ways a remarkably successful international

system) and d) India’s role today in World System.

So, Peace Research should follow the non-violent social change to be

brought into being by conscious, deliberate and planned efforts of a given

community – national or international. Thus Peace Research, in and

outside India should be functional, normative, prescriptive, operational

and future oriented.

In Indian context, the problems of communal tensions, relationship

between worker and management in corporate sector, Impact of



Corporate Social Responsibilities in promotion of peace, Agrarian

relations, group conflicts etc. may be subject of research. Also, systematic

efforts will have to made to identify the sources of violence in our

thought and conduct, the reasons for conflict and the motivation for

violence and recommend steps to reduce them. Peace research must

address the problem of poverty, violence and peacelessness. The principle

of Trusteeship, too, needs to be examined for reduction of economic

inequality in the society. Overall purpose should be establishment of non-

exploitative and peaceful human society. So, Peace Research would have

to focus on system building

Peace research cannot be conducted in isolation and apart from peace

action. There has to be unity of theory and practice. Researcher’s

participation in some programme/areas of peace (including

developmental projects) should be insisted upon. The concept of

‘Diachronic’ personality (the same person engaged in research as well as

in action at intervals), seems worthy to be adopted.

Conclusion

The study of original Literature of Trusteeship authored by Gandhiji is a

spiritual concept and is not easy for all to digest. Its practice is even more

difficult. Trustee (one who practices Trusteeship) in true sense of the

term will have no extra possessions than is required to fulfil his basic

needs. In fact , Trusteeship requires purification of soul and should be

practiced on individual level first. Unless the individual soul is purified,

Trusteeship at Group level will be next to impossible. A group is made of

individuals. If the individual forming the group is not pure, the group,

too, cannot claim purity. Trusteeship in its true form will exist only when

an individual intending to practice it attains self realization which in turn



means understanding his relation with God. The great souls like Mahatma

Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohhammad, practiced the

principle of Trusteeship in their lives. They are said to be incarceration of

God. They minimized their materialistic needs and lived lives for others.

The people who do not know the purpose of their being on this earth and

live a life in pursuit of materialistic aspirations only, cannot understand

and appreciate the principle of Trusteeship. Earth has been full of such

people and hence adoption and practice of Trusteeship is a rare

phenomenon as it requires fundamental change in thought and action

which is possible only when the soul is awakened from deep slumber.

However, it does not mean that the Principle of Trusteeship should be

discarded. It may not be adopted fully but process must commence.

Efforts must be initiated to know the true self and its relation to various

components of the nature. Such an effort will bear fruit and process of

purity of soul will commence. If sincere efforts are put into, soul will be

more purer day by day and the principle of Trusteeship will percolate

down into his life effortlessly. ‘Trusteeship’ will become is a way of life

for pure soul.

Corporate Social responsibility is a western management concept. CSR

for them is a business concept. Since they get their resources from the

society and nature and hence, it was deemed fit that they must give back

their due to the society, too. Trusteeship Principle is not yet understood

by West as the West is outward looking. One has to do inward journey to

understand the concept of Trusteeship. If the concept of trusteeship is

amalgamated with good CSR practices, there would be no harm to the

employees working with a company, their customers, society in general

and environment. However, it is an ideal situation which cannot be

achieved. But sincere efforts need to be made to move in the direction.



Peace as described above is a dynamic phenomenon. It is to be linked

with developmental activities. A company following good CSR practices

based on the principle of Trusteeship would take care of its people,

customers, society and environment and would do no damage to anyone

and hence, it would receive co-operation from all and there would be

peace all around.

Trusteeship is like a mother which could give birth to a healthy baby

called CSR and both together could work for making this earth becoming

free from conflict and tensions and hence bring peace and harmony on

this planet. However, it is worth mentioning here that Trusteeship must

be way of life for all if lasting peace is to be ensured on this earth.

Documents

Chapter: 2Chapter: 2 Literature Reviewshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8469/5/05_chapter 2.pdf · Gandhi approached the concept of trusteeship at four different levels