Commerce as a profession

COMMERCE AS A PROFESSION 

     Well may this age be called Age of Commerce. Different countries no longer keep up production to meet purely national needs. Today what one country lacks is supplied by another country. Each country shares its surplus with others, as also with multinationals. Exchange and barter of commodities are now carried on, on an international scale. The middleman undertakes the task of distribution and makes a profit out of it. The banker acts as an expert intermediary. Hence, the prospects are unlimited for those who have surplus production and wish to extend regional and national markets. The whole world is lying before them—tempting, challenging, offering immense scope to one who has the intelligence, imagination and initiative to take a step forward that is needed. With the phenomenal improvement of the means of communication, this is quite possible. 

        Under capitalism, national production is generally left to individual enterprise. But something more than this is also required. Character and a degree of specialized knowledge are indispensable. To succeed in a commercial line honesty is essential. It is good if a businessman has in addition the capacity for creating confidence both in his assistants as well as in his clients and customers. He must be reasonable, persuasive and high-minded. He must subordinate purely selfish considerations to human qualities. Hence a modern business needs a background. “A true-bread merchant is the best gentleman in the nation”, said Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe. Investments are made in anticipation of a rising production. This comes naturally to one who has the specialized training to study market conditions, depending on national and international factors. He is a bad businessman whose excessive desire for profits makes him gamble with chance. Above all, he must be patient. One must know how to stand and wait; impatience has ruined many a promising career. 

        Modern business is highly complicated affairs. It is an elaborate machinery with wheels within wheels. Hence a good businessman must know the ins and outs of this complex organization. He must have an aptitude for finance, an eye for organization, a knowledge of accountancy, a capacity for control and direction. In short, he must learn fully the art of business management. 

        The scope for a hard-working intelligent young-man in the field of commerce and business is great. One may take up banking or insurance. One may devote his capital and industry to the building up of a factory for producing commodities. One may enter profitably the export and import markets. A retailer’s shop is by no means to be looked down upon, though the wholesaler’s business is the gateway to ever-widening business enterprise. Choice has to be made according to temperament, attitude and opportunities. Hereditary factors are often a deciding element. For the young-man of character and training, the scope is immense. 

        The immediate end of trade is, of course, a purely selfish end that of making money. But if this were the sole purpose of trade, it would put the merchant on the same level with reckless gamblers. The commerce has always been a great civilizing force. “We exchange ideas when we exchange fabrics”. We make friends when we persuade buyers and sell our goods. We open up the gates of international association and that means as we carry on with trade and business a call for peace and goodwill.