SFU hosted a lecture and reception with the Hari and Madhu Varshney Visiting Scholar in Indian Studies, and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Visiting Scholar Dr. Kanika Bhal, at the Jack Austin Centre for Asia Pacific Business Studies. Special welcome by Mrs. Abhilasha Joshi, Consul General of India in Vancouver.

Dr. Bhal’s lecture topic — Belief Systems and Business: Indian Cultural Values and Their Interpretation in the Contemporary Business Context — addresses the role that culture plays and how it is interpreted in business.

Cultures provide a frame of reference for all human interactions—interpersonal, social and economic. Key Indian cultural values are rooted in mythological belief systems perpetuated through rituals and stories. Find out what some of these values are and how they can be understood on a societal and individual level in the context of modern business.

Dr. Kanika Bhal is the 2017 Hari and Madhu Varshney Visiting Scholar in Indian Studies. She currently serves as the Modi Foundation Chair, Professor and Head at the Department of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and is the first Varshney Visiting Scholar at the Beedie School of Business. As an accomplished scholar, teacher, and administrator, she has published over 100 journal articles, won multiple teaching awards, and heads a centre of excellence on business ethics, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility at IIT Delhi.

The Visiting Scholars Program in Indian Studies was first established by Simon Fraser University and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and was named the Hari and Madhu Varshney Visiting Scholars Program in Indian Studies in recognition of the Varshney’s generous investment. The program will foster and strengthen cultural relations by hosting world-class Indian scholars from a wide range of disciplines such as international studies, contemporary arts, business and world literature. SFU is the first western Canadian university to receive support from the ICCR to create such a program.