Abstract

The case examines Alacrity Housing’s history and how it grew to become the first listed corporation in the Indian construction industry. The company started operations as a consultancy and later entered the housing construction industry. Alacrity behaved in a strictly ethical manner and valued ethical practices over profits. As the Indian construction industry was highly corrupted with bribery for licenses/permissions, cost and time overruns, black money transactions etc., Alacrity had gained reputation as the most ethical builder in a short time. However, in the early stages, the corporation faced many problems because of its strict adherence to the ethical principles and policies and often the projects were delayed. In some cases, Alacrity’s customers had helped the corporation to overcome the problems. It aimed at proving that ethics and economics are not mutually exclusive.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Ethical practices leading to business success.

Keywords

Alacrity Housing, history, grew, listed corporation, Indian construction industry, operations, consultancy, housing construction industry, ethical, ethical practices, profits, Indian construction industry, corrupted ,bribery, licenses/permissions, cost and time overruns, black money transactions, early stages, corporation faced, policies, ethics, economics, mutually exclusive