Moral Tradition: Why It Is so Important to Integrate Cultural Tradition Into a Business

716 Words3 Pages
As industry becomes larger, businesses are forced to modernize to keep up with the competition. The extent to which a company modernizes is purely up to them, as each is forced to weigh the economic benefits and costs of industrialization. Often, when big companies take steps to become more efficient they lose the original culture of the business and/or people who have helped build it up. It is an unfortunate side effect that shouldn't be taken lightly. I believe, and there is evidence to suggest, that moral tradition is important in having a successful business, especially when a business revolves largely around the culture of the people. In Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics we see a battle between Santiago and Cheche. Santiago aims to preserve the values of Cuban culture, continuing to run his cigar factory as it has been for years, while Cheche wishes to modernize it’s every aspect. Santiago takes steps toward maintaining a high morale among his workers by bringing a lector in and, unsurprisingly, is met with strong opposition by Cheche. Cheche's plan would appeal to most CEO's of large companies, while Santiago takes the approach of the traditionalist, appealing to his people and doing what most see as morally right. Santiago’s approach is consistent with the idea of the article, “Moral Memory: Why and how Moral Companies Manage Tradition,” which suggests that “without some level of moral culture, business would be impossible.” In the article is support for Santiago's take on how a moderately large company should be run. Steven Feldman analyzes 22 companies that he found have maintained a strong sense of moral tradition in the midst of an era where industrialization has become a necessary evil. He asked several well qualified professors and executives to suggest companies that had been successful using a business model similar to Santiago's, and in his
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