Publication

Abstract : Confucianism, is defined by many scholars, in different ways, looking at different dimensions of Chinese way of life as existed and based on the preaching of Confucius during 500-400 BC. Reading through the literature, author chose to depend on the meaning provided by Yao, though it precincts an over-simplification, that Confucianism conveys an idea of a way of life that is simple and humanistic (Yao, Xinzhong, 2000). While the history documents the growth, popularity and wide acceptance of Confucianism till early 20th century and notes its subsequent decline with new ideologies dominating Chinese life, the resurgence of the Confucian ideology was noted by acknowledging the influence of Confucian work ethic in the rise of East Asian economy in the late 20th century (Wikipedia, as visited on 25 Jan, 2018; Elman et al (ed), 2002). The rise of Maoism in mid 20th century and the sweeping economic changes across the globe under globalization forces later, gave a new opportunity to Chinese businesses to participate and precipitate into the supply chains of global businesses and subsequently, to address market domination pursuits during the 21st century. The advent of BRICS on one-side, near collapse of Russian economy and later, US economy too, gave rise to increased chances to Chinese businesses to succeed (Acharyulu, 2007). Looking at near stabilization of global market dynamics by mid 2015s, by when, Indian businesses found their own place in global markets, American and European companies finding challenges to retain their dominance in dictating the forces of globalization, it started dawning on management researchers that the secret of the success of Indian and Chinese (not necessarily in that order) remain elsewhere from the management theories and concepts and models that had been operational till then. It is interesting to note that one very renowned Management Guru (Walter Kiechel III) laments that since 1995, there is no new noteworthy theory that emerged from the western business research on Strategy crafting and execution (Aurik et al, 2014). If we look at the pioneering efforts of Prof. Subhash Sharma on documenting and building tenets of Eastern Management Concepts and theories, and relate that to the present day, the initiative to bring together research from distant corners of the world, in understanding the significance of Confucianism and Vedanta in the realms of social theorization in general and in the domain of management theory specifically, as well as the earlier initiatives in developing a repository of knowledge in social theorizing, along with Prof. Ananth Giri, it is noteworthy to state that it has become increasingly clear (in author’s limited understanding, that the answers to the sustained successful business management would get unfolded from the Eastern philosophy, thought and theories as days go by. It is in that context, that the author tried to attempt studying few Chinese businesses, instead of several Indian businesses which indicate that they follow Indian philosophy; and a vast majority of Multinational businesses which fit the models and theories of western management – businesses which proclaimed that they follow Confucianism, and attempted to decipher their core basis of existence, their extent of believing and following Confucianism as a management doctrine guiding their businesses and see if such a study could motivate a deeper pursuit in developing a new paradigm of business strategy using Confucianism and Vedanta. The exercise is a cursory attempt, with a meta-analysis of randomly selected cases that identified themselves as following “Confucianism” in the conduct of their business.