Director,       MetaCulture Consulting

It is unlikely that terrorism can be completely eliminated. At the same time, business is clearly impacted by it. Because corporations suffer the costs of violence, it is in their direct interest to get involved in domestic peace and security issues. But what can they actually do? The answer: very little when it comes to preventing globally funded and executed terror. But prevention is only part of what’s needed. There are, in fact, two ‘explosions’ that happen when a nation is victimised by terrorism.

The first explosion is the attack itself. Externally provoked, it is characterised by bombs, hijackings or random shootings. The impact is terrifying and immediate; the result is death and destruction. While citizens can report suspicious activities and businesses can invest in campus security systems, the state holds primary responsibility for protecting its citizenry from this explosion.

The second explosion is a reaction to the first. Internally provoked, it happens when angry citizens target communities alleged to be affiliated with the attackers. This violence creates an ongoing cycle of retribution and revenge. It is the responsibility of citizens and businesses to be vigilant over the second explosion. Corporations can play a major role in preventing and overcoming systemic community-based violence.

Corporations typically ‘give back’ to their host communities by providing local jobs, increasing employees’ spending power, or contributing money and man-hours to charitable causes. More recently, many companies have invested in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. These CSR activities help thousands of society’s most needy and vulnerable people.

At the same time, however, there is negligible corporate investment in peace-building and conflict-resolution initiatives, the outcomes of which directly impact their own operations.

• Communal, religious and linguistic riots were sensitive political issues with which they didn’t wish to associate their companies.

• Given past experiences of working with some aggressive NGOs and political parties, they feared being attacked as ‘capitalist elites’ and being silenced in the meetings.

• They could do more ‘staying on the outside’—contributing to non-controversial projects in areas such as health and education.

• Social issues not being their expertise, they would stick to their domain areas, and the business of creating jobs and profits.

• Peace building is a ‘big’ job; it’s for the government to handle.

Enlightened CSR requires strategic and self-interested social investment. The goal of strategic social investment is not merely to ‘help’ those who are in need, but to address systemic issues in society so as to create healthy and secure communities.

Corporations are always at the receiving end of problems in the public space. A fragmented city with the threat of periodic violence does not make for a stable operating environment. Under such circumstances, professional talent flees.

A corporation’s ability to conduct business—indeed, the ability of its employees to even show up for work—is predicated upon the city being peaceful and safe. Managers justifiably feel ill-equipped to deal with social challenges. By abdicating the affairs of the public space to politicians and community activists, however, corporations are seriously disempowering themselves. It is in the real and immediate interest of business leaders to engage and invest in peace initiatives in their cities.

• Their host communities as comprising vital and often competing stakeholders whose actions and welfare directly affect business profitability and survival.

• The importance of having a cohesive community relations strategy in place, a strategy under which‘community relations’ is defined by relations within the community and not merely relations with the community.

• Their role as social bridge builders, because alienation of any social group can have political and economic consequences.

• The absence of their own ‘neutrality,’ and thus the need to ensure that their business conduct does not contribute to the escalation of existing disputes.

• Building a reputation for fairness, transparency and probity.

• Institutionalising practices like workplace mediation to manage internal disputes, thereby creating a culture of peace and modelling non-adversarial engagement to the larger community.

• Promoting social networking by creating forums for cultural co-mingling in neighbourhoods, thereby growing the social capital that communities can draw upon when under siege from external attack or internal provocation.

• Using their social and economic capital to build networks of peace and convening platforms for constructive dialogue among leaders of polarised groups. US corporations, for example, have been known to support diversity and inter-racial peace initiatives in their communities. They have invested in diversity education and cross-cultural sensitisation programmes in middle and high schools, inter-faith dialogue forums with clergy and believers of different faith groups, and citywide dialogues addressing issues of ethnic, racial, linguistic and economic differences within communities and neighbourhoods.

• Training local entrepreneurs in micro-enterprise and business management, and involving them in the company’s activities, which gives them a sense of community ownership and a stake in maintaining peace and stability.

• Creating a web of local partners and suppliers that is representative of the community’s diversity, the goal being to make local businesses joint stakeholders in both the company’s prosperity and the community’s stability.

• Conducting a detailed risk analysis of the social environment and developing empirical data about how their business activities either lessen or exacerbate social conflict, which will help in making informed and wise decisions.

In a society with deeply entrenched social, religious, linguistic and economic fault lines, corporations cannot afford to function as disinterested economic entities or remain mute spectators to the social upheaval. Corporations are vital actors that are affected by, and have the power to influence, the social challenges Indian cities face. If India wants to be the next economic power, or even survive as a viable state, companies must try to play a constructive role in building a peaceful country abusiness environment.