BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY

Area: Centre for Public Policy

Term 3: Core Course
Faculty: Arnab Mukherji

Course Objective
Business success depends significantly on managers’ understanding of the environment and
context in which business is conducted. The course is designed with the following main
objectives:
a) Provide an overview of the political, social and institutional context in which business
rise, grow, or die.
b) Reason critically when presented with multi-layered contexts around business,
government and society

Readings
Cases will be provided in a binder.
Session specific readings will also be assigned and circulated via Moodle.
Course ID Number: BGS 2017-19 - SEC E
Enrollment Key: BGS@2017-19-SEC-E

Pedagogy
This is a multi-disciplinary and ever evolving course. While relevant concepts and some
historical narratives will be provided in class, this will be augmented with, case scenarios to
juxtapose contemporary issues, historic evolution of conflicts across groups and how markets
navigate them in the context of different levels of government and governance in India. The
core reading will constitute the minimum required reading. Additional pieces, video and news
items, will be uploaded on the parallel Moodle micro-site for BGS.

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 Grading and Evaluation
Grading and evaluation will involve three components – an end-term exam (2 hours, closed
book), weekly submissions, and a team project.

Table 1: Grading Components and their Evaluation

S. No. Component Weightage

1 Weekly Submissions 20%
2 Mid Term Exam 30%
3 End Term Exam 30%
4 Team Project Report 20%
*Attendance is mandatory for 3 Guest Lectures. Non-attending students will get drop of 0.5
grade for each missing guest lectures.
Preparing for Weekly Submission: In total, there will be five submissions. Each section will be
assigned a question from the course outline one day prior to its discussion in class. Students
are required to write a 1 page response to a question and submit it before the class starts. The
same will be discussed on the class.
Some details on the Team Project: The project gives students an opportunity to examine
issues involving Business, Government and Society arise in real-world settings. Groups of
around 5-6 students will be constituted by PGP Office. Topics will be finalized after
consulting instructors.

Dates to remember
Project Theme Clearance: 8th January 2018 (Monday)
Presentation of Projects: Last two sessions based on their respective classes.
Final Project Deadline: 16th March 2018 (Friday)

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 Business

Session No. 1 Evolution of the Corporation

Readings:

Transcending Economies, Transcending Economics, MS Sriram summarizing Edmund S.

Phelps, (2015) Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge and
Change, Princeton University Press.

Session No. 2 Pre-Market structures facilitating business

Readings:

Multiple Authors, (2013) Special Issue on “The Glivec Precedent”, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. XLVIII No.32, pages 41 – 57.

(Read pieces by Graham Dutfeild, Amit Sengupta, Anand Grover, Carlos M Correa, Leena
Meghaney, and K. M. Gopa Kumar)

Government

Session No. 3 Democracy and Society

Readings:

Case: Ramanna, Karthik, and Vidhya Muthuram (2013). "Wal-Mart Lobbying in India?"
HBS Case No. 114-023.

Session No. 4 Growth and Development

Readings:

Case: Sophus A. Reinert, Thomas Humphrey and Benjamin Safran (2015). “Bhutan:
Governing for Happiness”, HBS Case No. 9-715-024.

Additional Reading: Current Affairs

Breaking the Silence – Why we don’t talk about inequality – and how to start again by Pratap
Bhanu Mehta

Session No. 5 Classic and Current views on Market Failures and Regulation
Readings:

Case: Avjeet Singh and Henry Lee (2009). “New Delhi Water and Power”, HBS Case No.
HKS103.

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 Society

Session No. 6 The Flashpoints – Land

Readings:
Case: Alfaro, Laura, and Lakshmi Iyer (2008). "Special Economic Zones in India: Public
Purpose and Private Property (A)." HBS Case No. 709-027.
&

Alfaro, Laura, Lakshmi Iyer, and Namrata Arora (2009). "Tata Motors in Singur: Public
Purpose and Private Property (B)." HBS Case No. 709-029.

Session No. 7 The Flashpoints –Labour

Readings:
Case: Rashmi Aggarwal, S Harvinder, K Rajinder, (2013) “Maruti Suzuki Industry
Limited- Industrial Relations” Richard Ivey Publications Product Number- 9B13C009
&

S Harvinder, Rashmi Aggarwal, K Rajinder (2014), “Maruti Suzuki Industry Limited-

Industrial Relations (B)” Richard Ivey Publications Product Number- 9B14C048

Screening Documentary Movie: Machines by Rahul Jain (Optional to attend)

Session No. 8 & 9 Diversity in India: Gender, Caste and Religion: Cleavage and Bonds
Readings:
Case: Koustab Ghosh (2015), “ABB India: Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion” Richard
Ivey Publications Product Number - W15405.
Additional Reading: Current Affairs
Caste as social capital the tiruppur story. Ma, Vijayabaskar & Kalaiyarasan, A. (2014).
Economic and Political Weekly. 34-38.

Sectors of the Economy

Session No. 10 Sectoral Narratives for Agriculture

Readings:
Case: Ray A. Goldberg; Carin-Isabel Knoop; Matthew Preble (2011), “Jain Irrigation
Systems Limited: Inclusive Growth for India's Farmers.”HBS Case No. 912403

Session No. 11 Sectoral Narratives for Infrastructure

Readings:
Case: Macomber, John, and Vidhya Muthuram (2014). "Delhi-Mumbai Industrial
Corridor: India's Road to Prosperity?" HBS Case No. 214-077.
Additional Reading: Current Affairs
Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train- Jawed Usmani

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Session No. 12 Sectoral Narratives for Education
Readings:
Case:
V. Kasturi Rangan; Shweta Bagai (2017), “Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary
Education in India”HBS Case No. 518006

Additional Reading: Current Affairs

Learning Deficit – The Hindu
a) From school student to child labour- G Sampath , The Hindu, December 11, 2016
b) Why children drop out from primary school- G Sampath , The Hindu, December 11,
2016
c) A noble profession under pressure- Omar Rashid , The Hindu, December 12, 2016
d) Heavy cost of a policy that neglects educators- Omar Rashid , The Hindu, December
12, 2016
e) Getting the elementary arithmetic wrong- D Suresh Kumar, The Hindu, December 13,
2016

Session No. 13 Sectoral Narratives for Health

Readings:
Case: Kannan Sethuraman; Devanath Tirupati; Nakul P. Raykar; Prakash Awasthy (2016),
“Surgical Care for Low-Income, Rural Populations: An Alternative Delivery Model from
Jan Swasthya Sahyog, India” HBS Case No - IMB593.

Session No. 14 Sectoral Narratives for Environment

Readings:
Case: Robert A. Burgelman; Debra Schifrin (2011) “The Growth of the Electric Vehicle
Industry: Facilitating And Impeding Forces”. Stanford Graduate School of Business -
SM193
https://youtu.be/KNoSxNTPFHU
In context: the world and wrap-up

Session No. 15 Wrap-up: Globalization and Changing Contexts

Additional Reading: Current Affairs

Airbus and Boeing each claim victory in multi-billion dogfight over illegal subsidies - The
Daily Telegraph

Boeing vs Airbus: The WTO dispute that neither can win – Deutsche Bank Research

Boeing tax break ruled unlawful by WTO - BBC

WTO Ruling against Boeing Is Meaningless – Forbes Magazine

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