B O O K R E V I E W
Billions of Entrepreneurs o China and India are reshaping their futures and yours Charles Dhanaraj
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Author: TARUN KHANNA Publishers: HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PRESS
|54| India-China Chronicle
HINA AND INDIA ARE popular topics these days and there are scores of books you can get to read. But, Khanna’s Billions of Entrepreneurs stands out in this crowd. By far it is the only book that weaves together with great ease economics, history, politics, and sociology that relates to these two large countries. If you want to truly understand business in emerging markets, this mix is an essential one - rare is a book that can give it to you all in one. If The world is flat was written by a journalist masquerading as an academic, Khanna is a great example of how academics can write in a journalistic style - yet keep the scholarship in tact. The stories are riveting. I have to admit that the writing almost transports the reader to some of those fantastic sites in India or in China – I came away feeling almost like having been in some of those places. It is also a book that will demand some deep thinking and can make you uncomfortable. It challenges long held assumptions, often taken for granted as truths. It lays bare the strengths and gapping holes in both China and India. Khanna weaves together elegantly a “mutualism” prescription - learn from one another - and argues persuasively for the need to approach these markets not as competitors but as complementers. The power of private enterprise and the strength of compassion at the root of a human being are both extolled, and Khanna makes an eloquent case that when these two combine they can be
July-August 2010
explosive - as demonstrated in some of the Indian cases that he presents. He discusses the legacy behind the superb order and efficiency in China, pointing to the fact that while India is struggling to build roads, China builds cities. Khanna makes a compelling point that private enterprise and good governance, if combined together, can be an effective remedy for the malaise in both the countries. Perhaps with some extensions, these can also be a resolution and hope for the problems of poverty and the lack of education and health care among the underprivileged segments even in the United States. Khanna has accomplished his stated objective for his book - bring an end to the ignorance of the great majority of the developed world that perpetuates a worldview that excludes 2.4 billion of the earth’s population. It will give you a panoramic view of the politics, history, sociology and economies of China and India. I bet most readers won’t stop with that book - for it leaves you with a thirst for knowing more. If global business is your interest, or the American Competitiveness in the light of China and India is your concern, this is a great start! I came out of it with great respect and admiration for Prof Khanna. This book will be read and debated for a long time. I plan to use it as a text for this summer’s class on international business and journey through it with my students again! (Charles Dhanaraj, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Management Schmenner Faculty Fellow in International Business Kelley School of Business Indiana University)