- ISBN13: 9781422103838
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product DescriptionCalled well worth reading by The Economist and earnest and entertaining by the Financial Times, Tarun Khanna s Billions of Entrepreneurs is an elegantly written book that mixes on-the-ground stories with thorough research to show how Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs are creating change through new business models and bringing hope to countless people across the globe. Khanna juxtaposes, on a variety of levels, China and India; explores how the future depends on understanding the yin and yang of these two nations; and emphasizes the increasingly important links between China, India, and the West. Khanna embraces what he calls a big tent view of entrepreneurship going beyond typical stories of high profile, young executives taking companies public and focusing on social and political entrepreneurs who are redefining the norms of daily activity. In the book, Khanna sets out to demystify many of the questions that confound foreigners (BusinessWeek), exploring subjects that include each nation s treatment of multinationals, Chinese and Indian managerial talent, and state vs. grassroots approaches to business and entrepreneurship. Khanna s insightful analysis draws on history, economics, and political science, and is humanized by vivid portraits of the lives of individual entrepreneurs, politicians, and activists whom the author has met during his regular visits to each country. He argues that hope for prosperity in both countries lies in the hands of the billions of entrepreneurs who are alleviating social problems and historic tensions, benefiting both countries and the world at large. According to the Financial Times: What Khanna does do, and does well, is cover vast sociopolitical and economic ground, and provide meaty information derived from conversations with people who have done business in India and China.
Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures–and Yours
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Before starting the book, I was suspicious of an Indian man (albeit a scholar) writing about India and China. Many authors tend to be overly negative or unrealistically positive about their native countries, especially when comparing to other countries… It was impressive how Khanna acknowledged certain bias tendencies and while reading the book I came to respect his unwavering commitment to objectivity. I thought he always gave both countries a fair and critical look, admiring and questioning when appropriate regardless if it was India or China.
As an entrepreneur myself, it was fascinating to get a glimpse into the human stories and anecdotal evidence of the statistics that are abound in major news stories. Those exact personal encounters are what made this a page-turner for me…I felt like I got a chance to meet people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
Finally, I loved the overall optimism that Khanna has for China, India and the world. In today’s atmosphere of doom and gloom it’s remarkable to see an academic looking forward with excitement. I appreciated the thorough observations, intelligent and substantiated analysis in the book; I am waiting for a sequel about Russia and Brazil!
Rating: 5 / 5
This book is a must-read for those seeking insight into what’s going on in Asia and its implications for the rest of the world. It’s replete with illustrative and entertaining accounts and provides helpful frameworks for understanding two of the most important countries in the global economy today.
Rating: 5 / 5
I am from India and have lived in USA for more than 30 yrs. I keep in touch with business news of India. It contains less important historical aspect of India.
I was disappointed by the book.
Rating: 3 / 5
I was assigned to read this book for a MBA class on international competitive strategy. I found this book to be much more interesting to read than a “traditional” textbook, while retaining its academic roots. By the time I finished the book, my understanding of India and China’s culture as well as each country’s influence on the global economy was much richer than before.
One example:
A chapter in the book is dedicated to discussing India’s and China’s use of soft power and hard power. Soft power is defined as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments.” The book is very successful in illustrating how India has mastered soft power by spreading its culture internationally through various channels (for example, Bollywood movies). Conversely, China has become very successful at using its economic and military resources to create desired results. Burma/Myanmar is used as an example due to the fact that this country has felt both India’s soft power and China’s hard power.
While this book is not inclusive of all apsects of China’s and India’s international influence, it’s a great start. I’d recommend this book to anyone curious about India and China. It’s a wide-ranging overview of each country’s government and culture, which will be a great asset to anyone given the growing international influence of each country. If you’re attending the Beijing Olympics, it’d be a perfect read on the flight to and from China.
Rating: 4 / 5
I know nothing about India, but I have lived in China for 5 years and read scores of books on China. I was hoping for a great book comparing/contrasting the two cultures. I am still looking for that book. Based on the book’s insights into China, I question whether the author’s scholarship on India is useful. His China perspective was lackluster and his knowledge was obviously shallow, as evidenced by the purposeless and cavalier use of pinyin. There are numerous books I would recommend over this one for perspective on China.
In addition to being boring and lacking perspective, this book should have been edited down by at least 50 pages. There were far too many comments that were unrelated to his discussion. There were Chinese phrases spelled wrong, poor grammar, and sentences without capital letters. Is this Harvard scholarship?
Rating: 2 / 5