by Jayram Daya, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani

Cooperation and competition both play a role in our collective life — sometimes more of this, sometimes more of that. However, a self-styled ‘capitalist’ sees red at the mere mention of cooperation, whereas a self-styled ‘communist’ argues for forcefully imposing cooperation on the whole society.

Suppose we put all such western ideologies to one side and ask: What does our lived, empirical reality say?

Towards that end, we take both cooperation and competition as real, basic human instincts — not scholarly theories to be debated. We then explore afresh how these instincts play a significant role in our lives. The exploration is independent of any entrenched theoretical framework or school of thought. We present three individual views, with the hope that these views will generate further fresh exploration among readers.

Part 1: by Jayram Daya

Key takeaway: The balance of cooperation and competition is the key to community and economic success.

In our school days, we learned an invaluable lesson from the Gujarati slogan: ‘વિના સહકાર, નહીં ઉધ્ધાર’ – ‘No progress is possible without cooperation’.

This wisdom holds true across all aspects of life, especially in our communities and economies. Cooperation fosters trust, builds strong relationships, and enables collective growth.

As a Gujarati, I have observed our community’s journey as immigrants in South Africa, and can relate to my father’s experiences. Under apartheid, skilled work was reserved for whites; therefore, at 12, my father worked as a child labourer for other Gujarati immigrants who traded goods. He became a street hawker, learning the trade of selling green groceries. Within our small, cooperative community, my father was taught to read and write in Gujarati for business accountability. This cooperation evolved into a supportive society that valued both business and social values. They established a financial system with donations and created a bursary fund to promote education. Today, every Gujarati family in our society has a university graduate, including four out of five members of my own family. Our motto is ‘Serve through knowledge’, and I strive to honour it. Unfortunately, the new generation often overlooks these achievements, focussing instead on caste and creed differences, leading to a disconnect from society. My father’s cooperative spirit built his future, leading him to become a business partner and educate all his children. The Jewish community had a similar approach, but dominated professional services due to their many educated individuals.

However, as we step into the bustling marketplace, another powerful force comes into play: competition. Competition drives innovation, improves quality, and keeps prices fair. It is the dynamic tension between cooperation and competition that propels our economy forward and sustains our communities.

During my first visit to India, my wife was captivated by the retail shops she encountered. She noticed that many shops selling similar items were clustered together in the same bazar. While shopping for jewellery in Kalbadevi, she found herself overwhelmed by the variety of fashions, colours, and competitive prices. Despite the confusion, she ended up purchasing numerous items from different shops. I explained to her that this was due to competition, with each shop attracting customers through specialties, innovations, Bollywood fashions, and authentic styles catering to all the cultures and religions of India.

We compared this experience with the malls and shopping areas in South Africa, where the market is dominated by a few companies, creating a monopolies. I wondered why this difference existed. My father explained it as a typical business strategy aimed at eliminating competition, so that customers cannot compare prices, quality, and value – essentially a take-it-or-leave-it approach.

As Indian businesses started dominating retail, they moved into supply and farming. When they became suppliers, they transitioned into manufacturing, and eventually aimed for mining. However, laws prevented Indians from engaging in mining and farming; the laws reflected a strategy to avoid competition while still aiming to maintain dominance. Today, many Jewish companies still dominate the retail sector by opening supermarkets. Indians have also followed this route, creating competition, but the purchasing power of the supermarkets often eliminates smaller competitors.

The point I am making is about the competitive spirit of Indian businessmen in the face of unfair dominance.

Cooperation: The backbone of community

Imagine neighbouring shopkeepers on a busy street. While they are competitors, they also share a common goal: to make their community a desirable place to live and work. They might collaborate on local events, support each other’s businesses, or unite to address common challenges such as safety and cleanliness. This cooperation builds a stronger, more resilient community where everyone can thrive.

The transition from barter to modern economic systems and the corresponding evolution of business cooperation can be seen in the following key developments: Introduction of money, development of banking, legal frameworks and corporate structures, industrial revolution, global trade and communication, management theories and practices, information technology, and regulatory and ethical considerations.

Competition: The engine of economic efficiency

In a market, sellers compete to attract customers. This competition encourages each of them to offer better products, more innovative services and competitive prices. It drives them to constantly improve and adapt, ensuring that customers receive the best value. This healthy competition is vital for economic efficiency and growth.

As a manufacturer involved in business, I believe this is crucial for survival.

Healthy competition can be fostered by sharing resources, knowledge, and adhering to practices that avoid monopolistic behaviour. Here are several strategies to achieve this: Encouraging open innovation, promoting transparency, regulatory oversight, supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), ethical business practices, consumer education & empowerment, fair access to resources and connectivity.

The synergy of cooperation and competition

In conclusion, both cooperation and competition are crucial. By fostering a cooperative spirit within a competitive framework, we can create a thriving economy and a vibrant, supportive community. To build a better future, both these forces must be harnessed creatively.

Part 2: by R. Srinivasan

Competition has many dimensions. At the basic level, individuals compete in a society where this is deliberately fostered from childhood in many communities and families, basically to make the child believe that he has to compete to get what he needs. While this is a good in one way, it has negative consequences. Much later in life, the individual realizes that, for one’s well-being, the spirit of cooperation is far more important than individual achievement.

As a verse in the Upanishads says:

सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
[Together, let us study, work and feel the joy.]

When I was working as a consultant, this was one of the challenges I faced, since traditional organizations rewarded individuals and there was no focus on team building. However, as organizations realized later, this individual focus is not helping to reach organization goals. Something needed to be done differently. Around that time, Japanese management gurus started teaching the world about how teams of individuals needed to work together to achieve organizational goals. This entails changing policies for managing people, from centring around individuals to centring around teams.

During my consulting days, I realized that traditional Asian and Indian culture nurtured team-work, and I used to show how during a festival communities come together to celebrate as a team, without any need to direct individuals in their respective roles. The most interesting example is how the family comes together to conduct a wedding with support from others. I came to realize that the natural instinct of all humans is to go along with a group and not compete; the concept of competition was introduced only to strengthen the individual to be more effective in cooperation in his individual role.

The above verse from the Upanishads started making sense for me in this context. Later I came across two other concepts from the writings of Edward de Bono. Co-opetition and Sur/petition: which, in a nutshell, say that society has more to gain if, instead of competing, they learn to cooperate where needed, to complement one another; and even, if needed, go beyond competition to surpass beyond oneself and create one’s own race. I found all these ideas very interesting and useful, in my consulting work as well as personal life.

The most important lesson I learned was from the principal of the school where my son was studying. She said, ‘We do not test students to show who is better and who is not; rather, we help everyone to reach his full potential without forcing children to compare one another’. In that spirit, even in sports, they only encouraged team games such as football and basketball; individual competition was completely avoided, as in athletics, tennis et cetera.

[Editor’s note: The thoughts presented here are totally at variance with what Ayn Rand wrote. In the final analysis, it is the individual who decides that the spirit of cooperation is in his enlightened self-interest.]

Part 3: by Naresh Jotwani

When one lives in Gujarat, and writes about cooperation, it is grossly irresponsible not to mention the tremendous success of cooperative dairies in the state. So here is a very brief overview.

Over the past seven or eight decades, the cooperative dairy sector has achieved amazing growth in the state. Tens of millions of people, in tens of thousands of villages, supply milk to dairies. A typical farmer brings in a few litres to the local collection centre, twice a day. Modern technology is used in collection, chilling, processing, distribution … all along the chain. Dairy products reach tens of millions of consumers in Gujarat and in other states.  The cooperative dairy network has dairies which are among the largest in Asia, and AMUL is one of the most easily recognized brands in India. Managers are proud to compete successfully against giant multinationals.

No doubt issues arise occasionally with politics, misuse, governance … et cetera. That is inevitable. Regardless, the system works 24×7, all year round. Small-time milk suppliers get their payments on time, and customers get the needed products even in remote places.

[Note: In India, a business entity which is a cooperative is fundamentally different from a public limited company. In a cooperative, every member has one share and one vote, and shares are not traded. Therefore the concept of corporate takeover does not apply, and financial shenanigans such as share buybacks, share price manipulation, leveraged speculation … et cetera are simply ruled out. The management is answerable to all members of the cooperative; a zillionaire member and an ordinary farmer each have one vote in a general meeting. One assumes that, true to type, giant multinationals would love to ‘take over’ well-performing cooperatives and ‘unlock their hidden value’ – that is, transfer cooperative wealth to a few wealthy investors. Thankfully there is no provision in Indian law to practice that con game on cooperatives. Predatory and gambling instincts do not get a toe-hold to play fast and loose with the cooperative entity, its members or its employees.]

Scenes of a local milk collection-cum-chilling centre. The red arrow points to the Gujarati slogan, at the entrance, which is also cited by Jayram Daya in his write-up. In the village, right next to the cooperative shown, is another local cooperative which supplies agricultural inputs.

As we would expect, there is competition between AMUL and giant food multinationals on national or possibly even international scale. But clearly competition occurs at almost every level in a healthy economy.

For example, competition occurs between the many fruit, vegetable or other sellers in a local market. In their own way, they try to attract customers, relying on product quality, price, attractive display, customer relations … and so on. However, since they are located in the same marketplace, there are many issues on which the sellers must cooperate. Water supply, electricity, garbage collection, parking space, occasional disputes or unruly behaviour … all such issues require cooperation among the sellers.

As far as one is able to judge, from interacting regularly with sellers in a few such markets, the dual ‘compete and cooperate’ strategy, indispensable for the smooth running of the market, works just fine, year after year.

Despite competition, there is harmony in the market, and tacit understanding of collective well-being. This quality arises from a strong cultural sense of belonging. People recognize that the marketplace is not for unpleasant disputes over money, and that sustaining community bonds is just as vital.

One sees no signs of any post-modern angst or cynicism in such a place! The market works just fine, because no Professor of Economics – whether leftist, rightist or centrist – has taught the sellers any theoretical framework! Indeed, the success of an economy depends not on what is taught in ECON 101, but on the culture, hard work, ingenuity and resilience of the people involved.

Competition in and among giant corporations gets unpleasant – due to power, politics and ego. No community spirit can survive in ‘the corridors of power’. Cooperation among business titans must be rare, but secret cartels may exist. Major lapses from fair market ideals are therefore unavoidable, from which no economy is immune. Enormous wealth and power have a deep and seemingly incurable impact on individuals.

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We trust the reader has found much food for thought in these three points of view. We will be happy to hear from readers their own well-considered points of view, based on their own varied experiences in life. Shorter messages may be posted as comments, but we will also consider longer messages as possible posts on the blog.

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