“Business at the Speed of Thought” is a
book meant for Chief Executive Officers of corporate houses, as per the statement of Mr. Bill Gates, who authored the book. Bill Gates himself is a phenomenally successful
Business man of
world repute. Why should he share his success formulae with his rivals? ‘Business secrets’ are something
people won’t like to divulge to others except their offspring. They
say business sense runs through the blood of the family. There is a community, nay, caste in India named ‘Vysya’ or ‘Baniyas’. Originally people belonging to this caste used to do business exclusively. They always ensured that their business secrets do not percolate to the other sections of society. They knew how to make profits. This does not mean that they have no ‘business ethics’.
Let us return to the question. Why should Mr. Bill Gates write such a book as ‘Business at the Speed of Thought’? It is ‘his business’. The mogul of the global software industry stands to gain immensely if CEOs get hooked to his ideas. Of course, he has his rivals in the field and they too would gain. But the students would generally go to their teacher whenever doubts arise on the subject.
What does Mr. Bill Gates say in his book ‘Business at the Speed of Thought’? In a sentence we can say that Mr. Bill Gates is advocating the introduction of e-commerce. Surely Mr. Gates is a well read man. And he even has read works of thinkers whose names are not very much palatable to the prophets of profit. It was Fredrick Engels who gave the world the idea that
Thought is the fastest moving entity in human life. Bill Gates got such an attractive and even seducing caption as ‘Business at the Speed of Thought’ from Fredrick Engels, a life long collaborator of Karl Marx. Why do I say that the caption is seductive? It would attract young individuals to the field of business. Mammon lured the people of Moses away from God and they are paying the price to this day. When the law of value ceases to operate, ‘business’ (an activity performed by humans for the sake of making profit) will lose one of its most common meanings. So business has no future as such. Individuals may find some employment in business. Even that is shrinking due to the advent of e-commerce. Mr. Bill Gates says that internet (he calls it as Information Technology) can bring about a revolution in the way products and services are marketed. But it will render millions in the vice grip of unemployment and destitution. Mr. Gates has conveniently hidden the numerous pitfalls and dangers in the
cyber world. There are innumerable hackers and ‘phishers’ in the cyber world. The cyber world is a replica of the actual world and law and order is a major problem in the cyber world too. Internet has to be freed from the grips profit hungry individuals and corporate entities if we want law and order to prevail there.
To conclude. It is difficult to talk about business in a scholarly language. But Mr. Bill Gates has tried exactly that in his book ‘Business at Speed of Thought’. The book is full of mistakes and misuse of language. The only attractive thing about the book is its caption.
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