2nd Book Review

The Elephant and the Dragon

Author: Robyn Meredith

Subject of the book

The intent of this book is to convey graphically the state-of-affairs in both India and China. Robyn is in the unique position as an editor for Forbes who is based in Hong Kong and who's responsibile for covering both countries. She has been writing articles about the politics and businesses of China and India for the last 5 years and has a deep understanding of the subject. She covers the strengths and weakness of each country from her point of view. China's quest for a strong infra-structure and it's concentration on connecting it's manufacturing base with the rest of the world and India's weak infra-structure that prevents the country from connecting it's manufacturing capability easily with not only India, but with the rest of the world. She describes how India is overcoming this deficiency by connecting it's service economy with the rest of the world through fiber-optic cables that connect shore-to-shore to all major developed countries. She postulates that the similarities of the two countries are that they are both embracing globalism and capitalism after emerging from their self-imposed isolationism of the last fifty years. The differences she noted that are the most startling is that the politics of the two countries couldn't be more different. Contrary to popular belief in the west that democracy and capitalism go hand-in-hand, China proves this belief wrong. The population appears to be content with the authoritarian communist government while practicing hyper-capitalism. India on the other hand are practicing hyper-capitalism as well but with hyper-democracy. Robyn discusses the twp political systems in place and what problems they both will have to overcome as a result of their political systems in the near future. She predicts that economies of both countries will continue to expand and that the western countries will have to deal with the expansion by looking at our own internal policies and national goals.

Who is the book for?

It's important to know the current landscape if you have any thoughts about establishing a business relationship with counterparts in either China or India, and this book will help you to gain this knowledge. Robyn covers not so much the ancient history of the two countries, but the more recent modern history and explores the potential limitations and outcomes given recent trends. She explains some of the contrasts that are very evident between the two countries. India being a chaotic, bustling, noisy atmosphere, while China exudes a lower key nose-to-the-grindstone feeling. She describes how the information system company's in India got a bit of a free-ride by not having laws in place to regulate them to the same degree as the established industries, and how in China the challenges of getting people to really be motivated and to work when the boss wasn't watching.

What are the best attributes?

I liked that there was both a recent history review, and the first person feeling I got while reading the book. I could almost feel myself in the position of living in a company campus with all the comforts to be found at home in the United States, while at the imagining myself going to the market a kilometer away and seeing the abject poverty.

I personally believe that this is why immigrants from both India and China seem to be more motivated than U.S. born natives....the first hand knowledge of how life can be unfair depending on where you were born, and how close you can be at any time to the poverty level.

What was lacking?

I didn't perceive any major deficiencies in this book. It was an easier read than Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World, but my feeling is that she probably wasn't quite as rigorous with facts and figures. I enjoyed the personal asides Robyn brought to the book, as well as her assumptions of the challenges that both country will face in the near future.

Summation

I enjoyed this book in that it provided a good balance between facts and a vicarious experience. There was more life to this book than Farheed's. While reading, I could almost imagine myself in the situations she portrayed...and not just because of the few photographs included (though they helped). I think this book is a good "primer" on India and China, but shouldn't be the reference you would reach for if you wanted to argue a point. Farheed's book would probably be a better source for that purpose. If you wanted to get a flavor for India or China, this might be a better book for you.