Some Buddhist managers and enterpreneurs have applied the Buddha’s teachings to business operations. Buddhist Business, an emerging discipline of Business studies, attempts to find applications of these teachings for successful business operation. In Buddhist business, an organization is seen as an entity with its own needs and conflicts that lead to "suffering" much like that experienced by a single person. While a person might use Buddhist teachings in everyday life to try to reduce or eliminate their suffering, an organization should utilize effective management based on the Buddha’s teachings to reduce its own suffering.

In order to find ways to apply the Buddha’s teachings to business management, we did an intensive case study of Takatoshi Mitsui (1622 - 1694), founder of Mitsui Group in Japan. We chose him for the following reasons. First, he was one of the earliest business persons to have applied the Buddha’s teachings successfully. Second, his business philosophy is still well respected by executives of companies in Mitsui Group. Third, Mitsui Group has been successful in not only the Japanese market but also globally.