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labor cost in China, so it is not only the principle that brings me to that, but it suits me to enforce my principle as well. So, I do not need to think twice about closing or not. Once my company's requirements are met elsewhere, I will close it.”
"Ok, I understand, but can you do this on your own, autonomously, or do you have to justify this before many other people around you?"
“No, I am autonomous, as long as the company's requirements are fulfilled, I can do what I want. If I would tell my partners about my moral concerns, they would all agree. My family is based on that".
"Your family in Asia is probably sufficiently informed about your ideas, but what about Europe?”
“Well I do not have any factory in Europe, I only have an office here. People here bring their own lunch and eat it. My intention is very clear. I give them a job, and consider this as doing something good for society. We have about 5000 direct employees, and 10 to 15.000 indirect ones. If you include their families, that amounts to 40.000. I feel good about that, but I cannot ask all those 40.000 to walk on the same principles as I walk on. It's not possible. As long as I do my duty to society, I would say that my job is done. What they do with the salary I pay them is something I cannot control. I have to stop. And this is where a lot of dilemmas between principles and running a company come in: you have to stop somewhere. You cannot just follow everything, otherwise you cannot run the business anymore".
"Knowing where to stop is like life experience, after so many years you probably know when to stop. But I also know that boundaries are fluid, so that in some cases you draw the line earlier, and in other cases you may expand it a little. I mean flexibility."
"Absolutely, you need to be flexible. For example, not until my factory in Central India, where everything for vegetarian food is available, is ready, can I let go the factory in China. That's flexibility, I have to bring in my principle that it has to run as well. We had issues in India as well, but we needed to go on, because otherwise I would have had to stop the business. It is a combination of three things, impose the principle, be flexible, and do nothing with it."
“And there are certain regions in the word in which those principles are more acceptable than in other regions, and does that define your choice of location?”
"Absolutely. And in this regard, China was one of the worst locations we took. They understand the least. Europeans understand much more. Americans also understand more. In China it's very simple. We have a joke: when they go to a restaurant, except a fan and a table, they eat everything. I have to live with that. There is guilt in me. I have had to live with that guilt, and I am extremely happy that I have got a chance to move out, and go to Central India. That means that even with pain and cost we're going through. It's worth it."
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