Bhupesh Bhandari: Being 'culturally' correct

As Indian businesses grow in scale and scope, they need to understand cultural issues - what is sacred in a society, what is not

The family, the story goes, had agreed to fund Anand Mahindra’s education at Harvard. But the rules at that time did not allow scarce foreign exchange to be taken out of the country for undergraduate studies. Disheartened, Mahindra asked Harvard for a scholarship — there was no other way out. The Ivy League university, to Mahindra’s pleasant surprise, decided to make an exception and admitted the scion of the industrialist family as a student on scholarship. So touched was Mahindra by the gesture that he last year made an endowment of $10 million to set up the Mahindra Humanities Centre at Harvard.

No less interesting is what he has chosen to promote — the humanities. Mahindra studied architecture and filmmaking at Harvard. That perhaps explains his interest in the humanities. Mahindra had told Charlie Rose some time back that his self-confidence to think through problems and confront the complexities of work comes from his education at Harvard in the liberal arts. More recently, he has forged an alliance with Sundance Institute to promote the cause of independent cinema.

Well-known scholar and author Homi K Bhabha, who heads the Mahindra Humanities Centre, says the humanities are central to the way universities in the US work. They provide direction to research in the sciences and the social sciences. The roadmap for the Centre is yet to be laid out and the advisory committee yet to be formed (one of the members, Bhabha discloses, is a renowned musician whose calendar does not have more than three or four days free in a year). But Bhabha says the work would revolve around how deeply are the humanistic questions — ethics, morality, equality and freedom — being implanted in the sciences and social sciences.

Much of it looks like philanthropy. Some bit of it is also about projecting India, and its businessmen, as a soft power. Cross-border acquisitions have become the order of the day; Indian companies have joined the scramble for assets around the world. Soft power is a good way to soften local resistance to such acquisitions. Support to the sciences, on the other hand, is not only expensive but also projects the donor as some sort of a predator. The humanities make a perfect fit.

That apart, it is also true that Indian business houses have got down to a serious study of cultures. As they grow in scale and scope, they need to understand cultural issues — what is sacred in a society, what is not. What may work in one country may not work in another. A hit formula in one context could be a total flop in another. More than that, businessmen need to know what is important for people, what do they want to become, and what is dear to them before they launch a product, service or campaign.

Mahindra, for instance, has a presence in 90 countries. His dream of becoming a successful multinational conglomerate will come to naught if he turns a blind eye to the cultural nuances of local markets or if he ignores societal trends. Bhabha admits that he could be used as a sounding board by Mahindra, but hastens to add that it is for the industrialist to decide which areas he needs advice on.

There are others too who realise the importance of the humanities. The university that Mukesh Ambani wants to put up will have at its core a very strong department of the humanities, though the final details are yet to be tied up. Bhabha says, he recently met Kishore Biyani in Mumbai and was struck by his interest in the humanities and inter-discipline studies. He found India’s largest retailer in touch with what was happening at Harvard. Biyani told Bhabha that the humanities are as important for economic understanding as anything else.

Still others want to study trends in Indian culture — which way is it headed? Less than two months ago, the Godrej group launched the Godrej India Culture Lab to “examine the textured nature of modernity in contemporary India by brokering innovative and meaningful interactions between the academia, creative class, business world and civil society.” The research interests of the lab will include, amongst other things, urbanism, media convergence, rural cultures, youth cultures and the Indian diaspora.

Those who participated in the first event organised by the Godrej Culture Lab in Mumbai in January say they found Godrej honchos interested in the study of art and culture to understand how people, especially the new consumers and communities, are going to affect consumption. What kind of products will give people a sense of wellbeing? For Godrej, which was set up 113 years ago, it’s a way of beginning to understand the social and cultural context in which to create products.

Similarly, Aspen Institute has launched Avantha International Fellowships for international students who want to gain broad knowledge of the world of philanthropy, social reform and development in India. Gautam Thapar of Avantha, of course, heads Aspen Institute India and is the man behind these fellowships. It may not be huge, but it clearly marks out the shape of things to come.