The document discusses the early origins and development of business in India. It mentions several European trading companies that established trade with India, particularly the British East India Company which was granted a royal charter in 1600. It established trading posts in Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. The East India Company focused on commercial interests over local needs. Major events included the Battles of Plassey and Buxar which increased EIC's control. Cotton mills and business houses grew in Bombay and Calcutta in the late 19th century dominated by Indian and foreign merchants. After independence, India pursued policies like licensing and import substitution to encourage private business under state guidance. Several prominent early Indian business houses are also outlined.

1. Business History
An Introduction

2. • Leaders with no patience for history are
missing a vital truth: A sophisticated
understanding of the past is one of the most
powerful tools we have for shaping the future.
– John T. Seaman Jr. and George David Smith,

3. Does history repeat?
• Mark Twain, says “History does not repeat
itself, but it often rhymes.”

4. • Alfred D. Chandler Jr. never tired of asking his
Harvard Business School classes and
colleagues, “How can you know where you’re
going if you don’t know where you’ve been?”

5. Kraft Foods managed its 2010 integration of the
British confectioner Cadbury.
• Company archivists quickly launched an intranet site, titled
“Coming Together,” that honored the parallel paths Kraft
and Cadbury had taken. Poring over historical materials,
they had found much evidence of shared values, and the
presentation reinforced those common themes.
• The ultimate illustration, titled “Growing Together,” traced
Kraft’s previous mergers as well as the one with Cadbury.
Its clever road map motif implied continued forward
motion as a stronger, united company. The same narrative
took hold from CEO speeches to press releases
• Kraft ended up integrating Cadbury more smoothly than
any of its previous acquisitions.

6. Who all shall know our history?
• “We believe it is essential for every one of our
partners and colleagues to understand our
history and how our values were shaped over
time.
Dominic Barton,
Global MD
McKinsey’s
– Customers
– Society

7. One use of organizational history, then, is simply
to remind people “who we are.”
• General Mills – The story of the 1878
explosion that destroyed its largest flour mill.
The company’s founder developed a safer
technique for milling flour—and then, gave it
away to all his competitors.
• Why does the story get repeated?
– Because it says something positive about values
that people want to preserve.

8. Impact of long-forgotten stories
• That is what executives at UPS did in the late 1990s,
when they realized large-scale innovation is required.
• With experiments in promising offshoots of the
business UPS needed its people to move beyond their
traditional focus on operational efficiency.
• So they started talking about their past in a new way.
They pointed to the many moments of transformation
in UPS’s long history: its shift from bicycle deliveries to
trucks, its move into air freight with the creation of its
own cargo airline (which quickly became the world’s
second largest), and its introduction of web-based
package tracking.

9. Why study BH
• A rich exploratory tool that executives can use
to make a case for change
– Nokia’s fall
• A potent problem solving tool that offers
pragmatic insights, valid generalizations and
meaningful perspectives
– Steve Jobs’ return
• Knowledge of BH helps understand business
leaders, contexts, situations, decisions, etc.

10. Why Study BH
• Reminds people of ‘who we are’
• People learn lessons from the past about failures
/ successes
• Helps transform cultures that are no longer useful
– Satya Nadella changing OS for collaboration
– Microsoft now had to be customer-obsessed, partner-
centric, work efficiently, faster and of course, more
innovatively.
• Helps understand the value system
– Employees of Taj Hotel created history during the
terror attach on 26/11

11. Why study BH
• Helps put adversity in a context and heal the
rifts
• Helps in understanding the business
environment that helped businesses prosper
and fail ( The case of IBM)

12. Revising History at IBM
• Louis V. Gerstner Jr. was first outsider to lead IBM as CEO in
1993, .
• His focus was on customer needs and customer service. After
all, the first two CEOs, Thomas Watson and son, had started
as highly market-savvy salespeople.
• Introduced dramatic changes to IBM’s organization and
management, cut costs, and laid off people. Departing from
the implied promise of lifelong employment.
• But he was simultaneously restoring customer orientation
that had weakened over the years

13. • Samuel J. Palmisano succeeded Gerstner 2002
• Ventured into the company’s well-organized archives.
• He saw in IBM’s history a clear vision of what the
future had to offer and an opportunity to liberate the
company from a dysfunctional view of its past.
• Began to codify values that were consistent with the
entire arc of IBM’s experience—values based on
– “satisfying customer needs,
– building long-term relationships, and
– pursuing breakthrough innovations.”
• Thus, each in his own way, Lou Gerstner and Sam
Palmisano found in IBM’s history a usable past.

14. Looking Back to Plan Forward
• Seven Tips for Getting History on Your Side
• 1. Visit your corporate archives — or begin compiling them.
• 2. Enrich your archives with interviews of departing
executives and long-tenured employees,
• 3. Survey what is known and understood about the
company’s history and values,
• 4. Make the history accessible — of people, products, and
brands
• 5. Conduct postmortems on major projects and initiative,
• 6. Seek historical perspective before every major decision
• 7. Talk about History at every opportunity.

15. Unit 1
• Early origins of Business in India
– East India Company
– Development of Managerial capital in India
– Early Business Houses in India
– Emergence of business groups in Bombay and
Calcutta

16. Several historical European companies which
chartered with Asia, more specially with India.
• British East India Company, 1600
• Dutch East India Company, 1602
• Danish East India Company, 1616
• Portuguese East India Company, 1628
• French East India Company, 1664
• Swedish East India Company, 1731

17. East India Company – Beginning
• Company was granted English Royal Charter under
the name ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of
London’ by Elizabeth-1 on 16th December 1600.
• Main aim was to find a market for English cotton and
compete with the Dutch and Spanish Armada over
Spices.

18. Arrival in India
• In 1612 EIC established factories in Surat with
the permission of Emperor Jahangir.
• They continued their trading activity for a few
years from surat and later on expanded their
area to create strongholds in Madras (1639),
Bombay (1668) and Calcutta (1690)

19. Expansion
• First Expansion was in 1639 at Chennai.
• Sir Francis Day along with the company
established a Trading Post, St.George fort.

20. Expansion….
• In 1668 The Islands of Mumbai were leased to
the British as dowry by the Portuguese.
• Coastal area provided strategic importance to
the Company’s trade.

21. Expansion….
• In 1690 Job Charnock, an agent of the British
East India Company, established a trading
fort nearby named Fort William.
• They called the settlement Calcutta

22. Extends to almost entire India

23. Commercial.
• The East India Company wasn’t concerned
about the local needs.
• It’s main aim was to make profits.
• A large chunk of the profits went to the Queen.
• Thus it’s commercial motive made it a
successful business enterprise.

24. Major Events
• Battle of Plassey – (1757)
– Defeated Nawab Siraj ul Daula of Bengal and it’s
French allies.
• Battle of Buxar (1764)
– Defeated and forced alignment with Mughal Emperor
Shah Alam-2
• Anglo-Maratha wars – 1775, 1803, 1816.
– Gained control over major parts of the country.
• Revolt of 1857
– EIC nationalized and British Govt. took control of the
Indian Territory.

25. Growth of business houses in Bombay
• 1860 – 10 cotton mills in Bombay
• 1872-1873 – 30 cotton mills in Bombay
• 1875 Bombay Millowners’ Association
• Merchants preferred joint stock firms for limited risks
• Indian entrepreneurs who specialized in mills
– Mowrosjee Wadia
– Sir Shapoorji Broacha
– Dinshaw Petit
– Nowrosjee Nusserwanjee
– Jamsetji Tata
– Marwari Community
– Sasoons community

26. Growth of business houses in Calcutta
• Calcutta was prominent for Jute mills
• Largely dominated by traders of England and
Scotland
• Opium Trade

27. Business enterprise in free India
• Planning Commission established, 1950, with PM
as chairman
– National Planning Committee 1938 was set up by
Subas Chandra Bose (INC) headed by Jawaharlal
Nehru
• Industrial licensing
• Tariff Policy
• Emphasis on import substitution
• Govt. to decide areas of private enterprise
• State participation in business.

28. • New credit facilities created to help private
sector
– IFCI – Industrial Finance Corporation of India
– NSIC – National Small Industries Corporation
– ICICI – Industrial Credit and Investment
Corporation of India
– IDBI – Industrial Development Bank of India
– IRCI – Industrial Reconstruction Corporation of
India

29. Early Business Houses in India
• Bennett and Coleman
• Britannia
• Century textiles and Industries
• Godrej and Boyce Indian Hotels
• ITC
• Kirloskar Brothers
• Shalimar Paints
• Tata Steel
• TVS
• PNB
• Jessop and Company
• Bombay Dyeing – Textile
• DCM - Delhi Cloth Mills

30. Old Established Houses
• TATA
– TISCO – Tata Iron and Steel Corp
– TELCO – Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company
– Tata chemicals
– Tata Oil Mills
• Birlas
– Gwalior Rayon
– Grassim Industries
– HINDALCO
– Many acquisition including Century Spinning and Weaving
Mills, Hyderabad Asbestos, Bally Jute, Rameshwar Jute,
Soorah Jute, Air conditioning Corporation, etc.

31. Other Business Houses
• Thapars
– Greaves cotton
• Kirloskars
– Kirloskar Cummins Limited
– Kirloskar Electirclas
– Kirloskar computer Systems
• Walchands
– Hindustan aircraft
– Premier automobiles
– Premier constructions
– Ravalgon Industries
• Mafatlalas
• Singhanias
• Shri Rams

32. Continued
• We construct beliefs about the realities based
on what happened in the past
• Business historians over recent decades have
generated rich empirical data on firms and
business systems that can confirm or
challenge many of today's fashionable
theories and assumptions by other disciplines
(HBS)

33. Continued
• Business history has broadened its scope in
the last two decades by including research on
corporate governance, industrial districts,
business groups, business culture, business
education, skills training, accounting and
information systems, design, and engineering.

34. QUERIES AND DISCUSSIONS…