Amazon’s market capitalization is now $2.23 Trillion, which is more than half of India’s GDP($3.94 trillion). Jeff Bezos has reiterated many times that the goal of Amazon is to be "earth's most customer-centric company". Amazon is relentless in its pursuit of customer satisfaction and customer focus, they are "customer-obsessed" and not "competitor-obsessed". If you search for “Relentless.com”, it will redirect you to Amazon’s website. The culture at Amazon places the customer at the center of all decision-making processes which is seamless with Bezos’s mantra “Start with the customer and work backwards”

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How do you define company culture

The famous Austrian American management consultant Peter Drucker’s quote, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," aptly sums up that no matter how strong or well-planned a company’s strategy is, its success ultimately depends on the organization's culture. Organizational culture is the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that influence the way members think, feel, and behave. It is how you do what you do in the workplace. It’s the sum of your formal and informal systems and behaviors and values, all of which create an experience for your employees and customers. If you are attending an interview or a meeting with the manager of the company, you are greeted warmly by the employee behind the desk, offered a cup of coffee and a comfortable seat. You feel a distinct, positive energy as a guest and it gives a taste of how they “do things around here”

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How do you define context

Revitalising people towards achieving organizational goals has a lot less to do with changing people and has a lot more to do with changing the context that companies, senior managers create around their people. We need to create an air of crispness, an air of vitality which energizes employees and that is associated with changing the context inside companies. Professor Sumantra Ghoshal, a management guru, a thinker, an author, a theorist, at the World Economic Forum several years back used the metaphor of “smell” to refer to the corporate environment and culture. He explained what the mindset of top-management  must be to improve the “smell” of the workplace for the sustainable success of the organization.

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Professor gave an example of “Downtown Calcutta in Summer” which makes him feel tired due the high temperature and humidity. On the other hand, while being the same person, the smell of “Fontainebleau Forest in Spring” makes him feel re-vitalized and energetic. Professor explained how the corporate environment are analogous and how top-management’s strategy, organization, process, infrastructure, policy etc. can leads to “smells” viz. constraint, compliance, control and contract. He suggested that management can shift the environment by “revitalizing” people as opposed to “changing” people by creating a right “context” around them viz. stretch, discipline, support and trust to maximize their personal contribution to the company.

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Context That Stifles Growth (The "Bad" Context)

Companies that operate with constraint, compliance, control, and contract create a rigid environment where employees feel restricted.

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Constraint (Limits Instead of Stretch): Yahoo

What happened? Employees were given narrow, incremental goals rather than ambitious, innovative challenges.

Result: Yahoo stagnated while Google and Facebook thrived.

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Compliance (Bureaucracy Over Self-Discipline): Infosys

What happened? A heavily process-driven approach led to decision-making delays. Everything required multiple levels of approval.

Result: Loss of agility in responding to market changes, and a drop in employee engagement.

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Control (Micromanagement Over Support): Jet Airways

What happened? The airline’s leadership had a top-down management style, with little autonomy given to employees.

Result: Employee morale plummeted, and the company collapsed in 2019.

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Contract (Transactional Over Trust-Based Culture): Uber India (Early Days)

What happened? Initially, Uber’s driver-partner contracts were heavily one-sided, with little job security.

Result: Negative media coverage and driver strikes led to brand damage.

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Context That Drives Success (The "Good" Context)

Companies that operate with stretch, discipline, support, and trust create a thriving environment for innovation and engagement.

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Stretch (Ambition Over Constraint): Tata Group

What happened? Instead of just competing locally, Tata Sons pursued global expansion (e.g., acquiring Jaguar Land Rover).

Result: Employees were encouraged to think big, making Tata a global brand

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Discipline (Self-Driven Accountability): Zoho’s Work Culture

What they did: Zoho encourages employees to follow self-discipline instead of rigid corporate structures—no formal dress codes, flexible hours.

Result: Employees take ownership of their work without needing external enforcement.

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Support (Empowerment Over Control): HCL Technologies ("Employees First, Customers Second")

What happened? The leadership shifted from controlling employees to supporting them, enabling better performance.

Result: HCL became a case study in corporate transformation.

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Trust (Long-Term Relationships Over Contracts): Tata Steel

What happened? During economic downturns, Tata Steel continued supporting employees instead of laying them off.

Result: This trust-based approach led to high employee loyalty and productivity.