The Crisis and Emancipation of the Modern Corporate Executive: How the Bhagavad Gita Reinforces Edward Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory

Business leaders are looking towards corporate social responsibility as a critical means to satisfying their stakeholders, while facilitating their firm’s long-term sustainability. As part of this holistic trend, more managers are looking towards the Bhagavad-Gita for lessons on leadership and character development in place of the classic Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Companies that currently lack strong CSR initiatives must follow suit in developing socially responsible products and projects due to the tremendous value that such actions can unlock for stakeholders. The Gita requests leaders to be the sattvic frame of reference for ethics and morality that the corporate world has lacked for many years. Important implications of CSR are the cooperation of corporations and NGOs with like-minded social objectives, and the creation of new firms and careers dedicated towards the research and development of socially responsible projects. With the greening effect sweeping across the United States, CSR will be a crucial moving force in the corporate world, and business executives must acknowledge that social value can be an amplifying force for corporate value.