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“Getting China and India Right” is a new book published by Anil K.Gupta and Haiyan Wang, both friends of 2point6billion.com. Sub-titled “strategies for leveraging the world’s fastest growing economies for global advantage”, it markets itself as an authoritative voice on matters of China and India – a huge task. So have they succeeded?
Firstly, the authors. Dr. Anil Gupta is the Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Strategy and Organization at the Smith School of Business, the University of Maryland, while Haiyan Wang is the Managing Partner of the China-India Institute, a research organization. The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one points out that only China and India simultaneously have the four component parts required to aid a country to truly shift the global balance of power and trade in their directions. Chapter two puts forward the premise that the time is now right to have both a China and an India strategy (not one or the other), while chapter three delves deeper into market analysis and the structure of the respective domestic markets. Four looks at how multi national players can use China and India as global platforms for global success, five contemplates the forces that are propelling both countries towards becoming global champions, while six looks at the two nation’s behemoth human resources. Finally, chapter seven provides an executive summary. All in all, it’s a well balanced thesis.
A note of appreciation for them is their resistance from using the dreadful term “Chindia”, of which I was perpetually thankful, and I found the most value in chapter one – the belief that China and India are four stories rolled into one. Gupta and Wang define these as being Megamarkets – with China and India providing the largest growth opportunities for “every” product and service; Cost-Efficiency Platforms – stating the case that sustainable low wages are here to stay and will remain global driving forces; Innovation platforms – a well researched and thoughtfully observed piece on the rise of Chinese and India R&D, scientific and engineering innovation that is fast leading the world, and fourth, as Launching Pads with both nations breeding what will undoubtedly become powerful multinationals.
The chapters that follow then expand on these themes. Examples are however constantly given from only a limited number of Chinese and Indian businesses, and it becomes repetitive to hear what Chery Auto did as an example several times over. It also has a feel of corporate America as the blood type that flows through the books arteries, it doesn’t really feel, or give the impression of being a book that really captures the essence of either China or India. It may be unfair to compare scholars with the likes of Salman Rushdie or Amy Tan, but in the latter’s writings; one can smell the scent of spices. Gupta and Wang, while aiming the commercial message of the book at corporate America, do so while sacrificing the unique sensibilities that ultimately make China and India so alluring, special, and requiring of the attention to detail they both stress.
That said, the developments that Gupta and Wang point out – that both countries are making, especially scientific and technological advances, really hit the message home. While one may be frustrated at China’s commercial habit of ignoring IP, and of India’s never ending battle with antiquated infrastructure, the salient truth is that they are both taking in the development of new technologies. No country can rise to prominence without technical ability, and the authors make this their best case for the rise of China and India and the reason why global strategies need to be developed to take advantage of this.
In short then, “Getting China & India Right” is a useful and thoughtful introduction to what is happening in China and India, and outlines well the global consequences of their near simultaneous rise. On that aspect, they are 100 percent on target. But as for being the bible on China and India, that depends upon your perspective, and where you read the book from. Gupta and Wang show a great deal of promise and common sense within their management strategy series of books, however, a concerted, longer lasting and more thoroughly researched field study would enable them to produce the book they really have within them.
