International

Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures--and Yours

Called 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.

Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter

Why do so many global strategies fail—despite companies’ powerful brands and other border-crossing advantages? Seduced by market size, the illusion of a borderless, “flat” world, and the allure of similarities, firms launch one-size-fits-all strategies.

But cross-border differences are larger than we often assume, explains Pankaj Ghemawat in Redefining Global Strategy. Most economic activity—including direct investment, tourism, and communication—happens locally, not internationally.

In this “semiglobalized” world, one-size-fits-all strategies don’t stand a chance. Companies must instead reckon with cross-border differences. Ghemawat shows you how—by providing tools for:

• Assessing the cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic differences between countries at the industry level and deciding which ones merit attention.
  
• Tracking the implications of particular border-crossing moves for your company’s ability to create value.
  
• Creating superior performance with strategies optimized for adaptation (adjusting to differences), aggregation (overcoming differences), and arbitrage (exploiting differences), and for compound objectives.
  
• In-depth examples reveal how companies such as Cemex, Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM, and GE Healthcare have adroitly managed cross-border differences—as well as how other well-known companies have failed at this challenge.

Crucial for any business competing across borders, this book will transform the way you approach global strategy.

Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations

Although much as been written about how to make better decisions, a decision by itself changes nothing. The big problem facing managers and their organizations today is one of implementation--how to get things done in a timely and effective way. Problems of implementation are really issues of how to influence behavior, change the course of events, overcome resistance, and get people to do things they would not otherwise do. In a word, power. Managing With Power provides an in-depth look at the role of power and influence in organizations. Pfeffer shows convincingly that its effective use is an essential component of strong leadership. With vivid examples, he makes a compelling case for the necessity of power in mobilizing the political support and resources to get things done in any organization. He provides an intriguing look at the personal attributes--such as flexibility, stamina, and a high tolerance for conflict--and the structural factors--such as control of resources, access to information, and formal authority--that can help managers advance organizational goals and achieve individual success.

Michael E. Porter on Competition

On Competition, a collection of works by Michael E. Porter, is a critical examination of the dog-eat-dog international economy. A Harvard Business School professor, Porter is one of the most respected and innovative economists of his time. Author of 15 books, he advises key elected officials and business leaders in all parts of the world. On Competition features 13 of his best articles over the past 15 years, including 2 new ones. The essence of Porter's message is that every company, country, and person must master competition to thrive in brutal international and domestic economies. Competition is the key to excellence. Worried about losing your job or your services becoming obsolete? Porter believes that a little fear is good for everyone. "Companies that value stability, obedient customers, dependent suppliers and sleepy competitors are inviting inertia and, ultimately, failure," he writes in his 1990 study and essay "The Competitive Advantage of Nations." Porter is a longtime critic of the short-term thinking on Wall Street that often stifles competition and hurts the economy. In "Capital Disadvantage: America's Failing Capital Investment System," he calls for much lower capital-gains rates for people who invest for the long term. He also urges investors and businesses to start thinking together. He contends that pension funds and institutional investors should get a greater say over the companies they own. It's wacky to have company directors with little expertise or financial interest in the company, he writes.

Porter is often unconventional and asserts that businessmen must be, too. In his essay "Green and Competitive," he shows little sympathy for businesses that complain about environmental regulations. Rules to protect the environment don't have to strangle companies--they can actually improve productivity with the right attitude and approach. Rhone-Poulenc, a French chemical and drug company, proved this when it stopped incinerating a certain byproduct and began selling it as an additive for dyes and tanning. Readable and provocative, On Competition is vital for business, government, and financial leaders as well as small-business people and investors. --Dan Ring

For the past 15 years, Michael Porter's work has defined our fundamental understanding of competition and competitive strategy. Presented here for the first time as a collective whole are a dozen articles: two entirely new articles and ten of Porter's articles from the Harvard Business Review. The collection includes a framing introduction from Porter. As a collection, these essays assume a new strength and significance, with each piece augmenting and supporting a complete picture of Porter's perspective on modern competition. To read through this collection is to experience Porter at work: we see first hand as his important theories take shape, deepen, and evolve over time. Organized around three primary categories: Competition and Strategy: Core Concepts, The Competitiveness of Location, and Competitive Solutions to Societal Problems, these articles develop the building blocks that define competitive strategy as we know it. With his unique ability to bridge economics with management, Porter addresses the important issues of competition, from its relationship with environmental regulation to the counterintuitive role of geography in the global economy. A Harvard Business Review Book.

Operation China: From Strategy to Execution

China has matured as a market and the game has changed. Yesterday, multinationals grappled with fundamental strategic choices: Do we go to China? Whom do we partner with? Where should we invest? Winning in China was all about achieving approval to enter the market, picking the right joint venture partner and selling in the right few cities to the right customers. Execution didn t matter as much as privileged access through government and partner relationships.

Today, China is teeming with MNCs and local competitors. Government is no longer the main driver of deals. Barriers to entry have fallen. Regulations are less of a factor. Partners are no longer required in many industries. Winning now depends on great execution: effectively and efficiently developing, marketing, producing, and channeling goods to customers and growing and retaining a talent base.

In Operation China, Jimmy Hexter and Jonathan Woetzel explain how you can achieve superior execution in China through operations including talent management, product development, information technology, procurement, supply-chain management, manufacturing, and sales, marketing, and distribution.

Based on over two decades of consulting experience for both local and multinational operations in China and extensive research on what drives success in operating in China, this book helps you get your operations right in the new competitive arena defining China today.

"It wasn't long ago when 'good' was good enough to win in China. No longer. Today, it's all about world-class execution. Jimmy Hexter and Jonathan Woetzel draw on their intimate knowledge of China to provide specific, real-world advice for all foreign companies operating in China today."

--Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO, General Motors Corporation

"Few Western companies have truly cracked the code on how to successfully turn a China strategy into a winning China business operation. Operation China nails down the key aspects of running businesses in China has no other book has."

--William Amelio, CEO, Lenovo

"If you are a global player, Operation China provides invaluable guidance and insight on translating China opportunities into results. If you're not a global player, but are impacted by companies that are, Operation China is a window into the source of your competitive weakness."

--Robert Holland Jr., Director at YUM! Brands, Inc.

"As trade between China and the United States has exploded, the gap has widened between companies taking full advantage of this opportunity and those left behind. Hexter and Woetzel have put their finger on what every executive must focus on to succeed."

--Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, former US Trade Representative and Senior International Partner, WilmerHale

IT And the East: How China And India Are Altering the Future of Technology And Innovation (Gartner)

The center of gravity in the technology world has shifted east. Today, India and China are churning out some of the world’s best-trained computer science and electrical engineering graduates. In both countries, consumer classes and domestic markets for technology have ballooned. Western high-tech firms are increasingly sourcing their products’ assembly from India and China and the innovation that drives those products. Meanwhile, indigenous Indian and Chinese companies are creating intellectual property and innovations that will compete with those same Western companies.

In IT and the East, James M. Popkin and Partha Iyengar examine the vital questions these developments raise: What’s the long-term impact of high-tech outsourcing? How will innovation be managed in the future? Can Western firms compete in Asian markets while protecting key intellectual property? Will the innovation engine inexorably shift east? What would such a shift mean for Western countries currently driving innovation? The authors also discuss the emerging alliances between Indian and Chinese technology companies and outline the implications for Western businesses.

Filled with extensive interviews with high-level executives, government officials, and academics from around the world, IT and the East is the first book to articulate the challenges that new business scenarios and capabilities in India and China pose for Western technology firms.

Dragons at Your Door: How Chinese Cost Innovation Is Disrupting Global Competition

The new competitive challenge from Chinese businesses is like nothing seen by Western companies since the Japanese arrived twenty years ago with their cars and consumer electronics. To fend off these fierce competitors, managers must forget yesterday’s image of Chinese companies as producers of cheap, low-quality imitations flooding world markets. In fact, by strategically implementing what the authors call cost innovation, Chinese firms are advancing into high-end products and industries and competing for such high-value activities as engineering, design, and even R&D.

The first book to examine this new competitive force, Dragons at Your Door exposes the strategies, strengths, and weaknesses of these fast-rising Chinese competitors, surfaces the underlying logic that enables Chinese firms to attack high-end industries, and provides critical new insight into these very different competitors.

The First 90 Days in Government: Critical Success Strategies for New Public Managers at All Levels

More than 250,000 public sector managers in the United States take on new positions each year and many more aspire to leadership. Each will confront special challenges--from higher public profiles to a greater number of stakeholders to volatile political environments--that will make their transitions even more challenging than in the business world. Now Michael H. Watkins, author of the best-selling book The First 90 Days, applies his proven leadership transition framework to the public sector. Watkins and co-author Peter H. Daly address the crucial differences between the private and public sectors that go to the heart of how success and failure are defined, measured, and rewarded or penalized. This concise, practical book provides a roadmap to help new government leaders at all levels accelerate their transitions by overcoming nine transition challenges, ranging from clarifying expectations to defining goals to building a team to managing personal stress. The authors also offer detailed strategies for avoiding major "transition traps." Zeroing in on the challenges facing new government leaders, Getting Up to Speed in Government is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to lead and succeed in the public sector.

Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies

Hidden Champions reveals the strategies and practices of hundreds of low-profile high-performance German companies. How do these companies--small- and mid-sized niche firms like Brita, the world leader in point-of-use water filters--do it? They are all great innovators; many have created their own markets. They have expanded a narrow product focus to meet the needs of customers around the world. They avoid outsourcing, diversification, and strategic alliances, instead creating unmatchable internal competencies. They are extremely close to their customers but have no large marketing departments. They are led by executives who are both authoritarian and participative. Their hallmark is continuity, with almost no employee turnover and an average CEO tenure of 24 years. This groundbreaking and contrarian book lends extraordinary insights into building and defending market leadership. It is a compelling wake-up call for back-to-basics management.

From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy

"Metanational" is the term that Jose Santos, Peter Williamson, and Yves L. Doz--management and technology professors at the international INSEAD graduate school of business--coined to describe a new type of global corporation. It refers, they explain in From Global to Metanational, to "a company that builds a new kind of competitive advantage by discovering, accessing, mobilizing, and leveraging knowledge from many locations around the world." And as they unveil and dissect the concept, it becomes apparent that it may indeed be an apt description for those worldwide enterprises most likely to succeed in our rapidly changing times. Based on interviews with 36 companies from America, Asia, and Europe (including long-established firms like 3M and Toyota and newcomers like Acer and Shiseido), the authors describe innovative ways to efficiently tap into "pockets of technology, market intelligence and ... specialist knowledge scattered around the world," rather than relying solely on input from a home nation or a few select locales. They explore how trailblazers are identifying this information wherever they find it, parlaying it into new products, services and processes, and merging the result with all sales, distribution, and marketing efforts. Anyone involved in multinational business should find this both provocative and potentially useful. --Howard Rothman

Becoming a global company once meant penetrating markets around the world. But the demands of the knowledge economy are turning this strategy on its head. Today, the challenge is to innovate by learning from the world .

This book provides a blueprint for companies ready to embrace this new globalization challenge. In From Global to Metanational , international business and strategy experts Yves Doz, José Santos, and Peter Williamson introduce a radically different kind of company-the metanational-defined by three core capabilities: being the first to identify and capture new knowledge emerging all over the world; mobilizing this globally scattered knowledge to out-innovate competitors; and turning this innovation into value by producing, marketing, and delivering efficiently on a global scale.

The authors explain why traditional global strategies are no longer sufficient to differentiate leading competitors, what the knowledge economy means for managers, and why opportunities to leverage globally dispersed knowledge are growing. Most important, they outline exactly how managers can build a metanational advantage for their own organizations by:

* Prospecting for and accessing untapped pockets of technology and emerging consumer trends from around the world

* Leveraging knowledge imprisoned in a multinational's local subsidiaries

* Mobilizing this fragmented knowledge to generate innovations, profits, and shareholder value

Drawing from the experiences of pioneering metanationals including STMicroelectronics, ARM, Acer, Nokia, Shiseido, and PolyGram, the book shows how today's multinationals can use their existing global networks to gain an important head start in the global game-and how newcomers can leapfrog traditional competitors by rapidly building a new-style metanational corporation.

Must-reading for every leader-from the CEO of a new global venture, to the executive of a currently successful multinational, to the founder of an e-business startup getting ready to "go global"-this pathbreaking book shows how to reshape strategies to compete and win in the global knowledge economy.
AUTHORBIO: Yves Doz is Timken Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at INSEAD. José Santos is Professor of International Management at INSEAD. Peter Williamson is Professor of International Management and Asian Business at INSEAD's Euro-Asia Centre.[EBK1]