1209 Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 60 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8195-8.ch060 The Bhagavad-Gita and Business Ethics: A Leadership Perspective ABSTRACT The study of ancient wisdom has recently become a subject of growing interest. During the past decade we have witnessed an increase in the amount of literature on applying ancient wisdom in the context of business leadership. In the Asian context, the ancient literature from India and China is pregnant with several lessons which are relevant and useful for business leadership. Among the literature from the Indian context, the Bhagavad-Gita is one of the most popular and most cited by many scholars and practitioners in the feld of business leadership. However, based on a survey of business leadership literature from the Bhagavad-Gita, very few works are found on the pressing and important topic of business ethics. Therefore, in this chapter the author attempts to explore and incorporate the ethical principles found in the Bhagavad-Gita into business leadership. In presenting the business ethics from the Bhagavad-Gita, the author has employed hermeneutics, which is a qualitative methodology used for the interpretation of ancient literatures. The Bhagavad-Gita advocates a consciousness and a spirit-centered approach to the subject of business ethics based on eternal values and moral principles that should govern the conduct of business leaders. This chapter is likely to provide insights into Indian business ethics for Western busi- ness leaders, enabling them to work more efectively with Indian business leaders in India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Western Europe and North America where there is a signifcant Indian population. 1. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE OF THIS CHAPTER Over the years, business ethics has become one of the major topics for discussion around the world due to many of the business scandals which took place not only in the Indian but throughout the world. In academic literatures, research chapters on various dimensions of business ethics have been written by several scholars. There are per- haps hundreds of research chapters written on business ethics in the Indian context and there Balakrishnan Muniapan Wawasan Open University, Malaysia