Books to Get You Thinking

The past decade has seen a dramatic transformation of the world economic system. The increasing interdependencies and the widespread global flow of capital, goods, and services between nations have resulted in new and changing dynamics of economic growth. Our library system includes a rich variety of resources covering different aspects of globalization. This month’s picks explore some key workings of the global economic system and highlight the experiences of two different nations that have sprung into prominence in the global arena – China and India.

Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything by Harold L. Sirkin, James Hemerling and Arindam Bhattacharya is an important read for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the dynamics of companies working in a global environment. The authors are affiliated with the Boston Consulting Group and have extensive expertise in markets in developing countries. The book addresses some fundamental questions: how have newly emerging companies from developing countries succeeded in competing effectively in global markets? How can corporations from the developed world diversify and grow in this transformed global marketplace? The authors find answers to such key issues by analyzing the areas that organizations need to focus on including relative cost structures, product and marketing adaptability and strategic innovations. The readers also get an insight into the workings of some of the most successful companies in China, India, Brazil, Mexico, East Europe Turkey and Russia.
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Imagining India: Ideas for a New Century by Nandan Nilekani
Hot off the press is this fascinating book about modern India and its future. The author, co chairman of India’s pioneering technology service provider, Infosys, has been recognized as one of the hundred most influential people in the world by Time in 2006. The book begins with a foreword by Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman. Nilekani analyzes India’s economic and social policies, and views development over time as having being shaped by the evolving set of beliefs and values of its people and government. The contradictions and complexities set in place by the widely divergent regions and religions of India are set against the juxtaposition of innovative solutions the author advocates to ensure sustainable economic growth encompassing both agriculture and industry. The solutions span technology growth and the development of infrastructure, public health, education and energy resources.
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Yasheng Huang, a professor at the Sloan Business School, MIT, provides an in-depth analysis of China’s economic growth over the past three decades in his book, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State. Making extensive use of empirical data and statistics drawn from an impressive array of primary sources, the author makes a distinction between the agricultural sector led growth in the eighties that led to sizeable income growth and flourishing small business ventures in the rural sector, and the Shanghai model of urban centered, state controlled growth that has followed from the nineties onwards. The shift in policy has stifled both private entrepreneurship and growth in China’s large agriculture sector resulting in rising income disparities and stagnating household incomes. The author builds a compelling case for political, institutional and legal reforms to tackle some of the most critical challenges facing China today.
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There are many more exciting titles on our shelves so be sure to check back for more books to get you thinking!
- Nita Mathur

Comments

  1. These books are very relevant to our times and I wouldnt have noticed them otherwise. Thanks!

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