Mr Ratan Tata had my sympathy when I heard his chocked voice saying “It is for the people of West Bengal and Kolkata to decide whether we are unwanted or to accept us as a good corporate citizen.”

And he lost it when I saw an unseen, and old news-clip yesterday. It was of Ratan Tata introducing Nano to the world, with a sly remark on how the choice of the name came about. “Buddho car, Mamata, or despite Mamata..”

I refuse to believe that someone with Mr Rata Tata’s calibre can have such offhanded approach to stakeholders. Yet in that introduction, he demonstrated exactly that. A mild arrogance on the lines of “nothing can stop us now,” perhaps? I’d never know.

If history is any proof, corporations have been brought to their knees by a mere handful—time and again. And yet, they refuse to learn from the mistakes or misfortunes of others in their business fraternity.

Stakeholder engagement may sound like a corporate jargon lacking empathy, but it is a powerful tool if used early on, with honesty, and integrity. Stakeholder engagement is what Erin Brockovich did by approaching each one of those affected by PG&E’s actions, and taking them into confidence; discussed, and addressed their issues.¹

Nobody seems to debate the fact that it is not enough for companies to take the Government provided land, particularly in the background of unrest from primary stakeholders. It is not about being right, legally correct, or having the nose-up because of it. It is about facing reality.² Those who do not take heed, end up facing the wrath of opportunists like Mamata Banerjee.

Doing business in a developing world is no excuse for Harvard graduates to skip chapters from their business management books. It would be a shame to see the Nano project wither away because of ineffective stakeholder engagement.

1. Watch the film, if you haven’t already. It is mind boggling.
2. This does not only happen in India. Look at Corrib pipeline project for example.

In my time, learning Devanagari this way would have been thought weird, but this is exactly how my eight-year old is.