- 28 Jan 2008
- Research & Ideas
Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India
Entrepreneurship in both China and India is rising dramatically and thriving under quite different conditions. HBS professor Tarun Khanna explains what it all means in this Q&A about his new book, Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include: In China and India, much of entrepreneurship is in response to constraints—societal, political, or other. The business landscapes of China and India differ in two main respects: their degree of openness to outside influence, and the extent and type of government involvement. Foreign direct investment pours into China. India has embraced foreign direct investment much less, for good and bad reasons. Traditionally, India has been more open to ideas than has China. In India, caste is both less important and more important than it used to be. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Dec 2007
- Research & Ideas
The Rise of Medical Tourism
Medical tourism—traveling far and wide for health care that is often better and certainly cheaper than at home—appeals to patients with complaints ranging from heart ailments to knee pain. Why is India leading in the globalization of medical services? Q&A with Harvard Business School's Tarun Khanna. Key concepts include: Medical tourism is a new term but not a new idea. Patients have long traveled in search of better care. Today, constraints and long waiting lists at home, as well as the ease of global travel, make medical tourism more appealing. Superior medical schools, a low cost of living, family preferences, and the barriers to foreign accreditation mean that Indian doctors may prefer to work in India rather than elsewhere. The medical services industry is evolving quickly. Khanna expects to see dynamics in China similar to those in India and in other parts of Southeast Asia. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Oct 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Team Familiarity, Role Experience, and Performance:Evidence from Indian Software Services
In contexts ranging from product development to service delivery, a significant amount of an organization's work is conducted by "fluid teams" that strive for innovative output. Fluid project teams exist only for the duration of a single project, and are comprised of members who may join or leave a team during the course of a project. In such settings, simple measures of cumulative output may not accurately capture team experience, particularly when changes in team composition are substantial over time. This study of an Indian software services firm, Wipro Technologies, considers an approach for capturing the experience held by fluid teams. It extends the concept of team fluidity in a way that allows for greater granularity in the measurement of team experience and a finer understanding of the determinants of team performance. Key concepts include: The findings underscore the need to use caution in assuming cumulative output wholly captures experience when team membership is not constant from one project to the next. These results build on previous research on team familiarity by considering longitudinal data on the individual members of teams. The findings also emphasize the importance of considering role experience and studying experience at different levels of seniority. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Aug 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Diasporas and Domestic Entrepreneurs: Evidence from the Indian Software Industry
Several recent studies have highlighted the important role that cross-border ethnic networks might play in facilitating entrepreneurship in developing countries. Little is known, however, about the extent to which domestic entrepreneurs rely on the diaspora and whether this varies systematically by the characteristics of the entrepreneurs or their local business environment. The Indian diaspora is estimated at over 18 million people spanning 130 countries. Given that formal institutions in India remain weak and hence the informal barriers to trade are higher, do diaspora networks serve as substitutes to the functioning of the local business environment? Do they help entrepreneurs to circumvent the barriers to trade arising from imperfect institutions? This study examines the extent to which software entrepreneurs within India vary in their reliance on expatriate networks. Key concepts include: Entrepreneurs located outside software hubs—in cities where monitoring and information flow on prospective clients is harder—rely significantly more on diaspora networks for business leads and financing. Those who rely more on diaspora networks also have better performing firms. This benefit from the diaspora is stronger for entrepreneurs who are based outside hubs. Benefits from the diaspora accrue most to entrepreneurs who have previously lived abroad and returned to India, compared with those who have not lived abroad. Professional rather than ethnic ties may well form the basis for these networks. Policymakers in developing countries could leverage their diasporas to help with domestic entrepreneurship by developing links between the diaspora and smaller cities rather than with hubs. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Aug 2007
- Research & Ideas
High Hills, Deep Poverty: Explaining Civil War in Nepal
Nepal, the home of Mount Everest, has been gripped in recent years by civil war. A new paper by Harvard Business School professor Lakshmi Iyer and Quy-Toan Do of the World Bank looked at the roots of Nepal's conflict from a variety of angles. For the future, investing in poverty reduction strategies is a key for peace, Iyer says. Key concepts include: Nepal went through a dozen different governments in 12 years beginning in 1991. Diversity could be a contributing factor to civil wars, and Nepal is tremendously diverse—ethnically, economically, and geographically. Geographic diversity and poverty were the greatest predictors of violence in Nepal. The root cause of Nepal's civil war was economic, not social. Investments in poverty reduction strategies bring direct economic as well as political benefits to countries like Nepal. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Jun 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Poverty, Social Divisions and Conflict in Nepal
More than 70 civil wars have occurred around the world since 1945. Understanding what causes such violent conflicts to begin and then fester is a topic of increasing research interest to economists. In Nepal the conflict known as "the People's War" began in 1996 and spread to all parts of the country, resulting in the deaths of more than 13,000 people. Do and Iyer considered a wide range of economic and social factors that they hypothesized could affect the likelihood of violent conflict, and econometrically examined their relationship with conflict intensity. These factors include geographic conditions (mountains and forests), economic development, social diversity including linguistic diversity, and government investment in infrastructure. Do and Iyer's nuanced approach allowed them to examine the spread of a single conflict across different parts of the country and over time. Key concepts include: In the initial stages of the conflict, total deaths caused by Maoist insurgents and government forces were higher in areas with greater poverty. Yet this relationship with poverty changed over time: As Maoists gained control of the poorest areas, the highest intensity of conflict shifted to places that were somewhat better off. Conflict intensity was higher in areas with geographical characteristics that favor insurgents, such as mountains and forests. There was no significant relationship between conflict intensity and linguistic diversity. The relationship with caste polarization was slight. The changing relationship with poverty suggests that researchers need to consider a conflict's prior evolution in their broader analyses. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Mar 2007
- Research & Ideas
Handicapping the Best Countries for Business
India? South Africa? Russia? Which are the best countries for a firm to invest in? In a new book, Professor Richard Vietor looks at the economic, political, and structural strengths and weaknesses of ten countries and tells readers how to analyze the development of these areas in the future. Read our Q&A and book excerpt. Key concepts include: Governments create the overall environment for successful competition in the global economy. Bad government can only lead to less competitive businesses. To be competitive, countries need to offer businesses sound fiscal and monetary policies, secure property rights, high savings and investment, an absence of corruption, and exports that are competitive in enough areas to eventually balance imports. Business people must understand where markets and countries are headed by analyzing the present and then extending current performance trends forward three to five years. Although each has issues, Singapore, China, and India are currently the best bets for FDI and, pending political stability, so is Russia. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Dec 2006
- Op-Ed
India Needs to Encourage Trade with China
Although India and China have increased bilateral trade over the last five years, the amount is far less than what would be expected. Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna says India has primarily itself to blame. From The Economic Times. Key concepts include: China and India recorded $19 billion in bilateral trade in 2005, much less than would be expected of countries similar in size, within geographic proximity, and with shared cultural ties. Indians' fears about Chinese competition and unease over past border wars result in procedural and other roadblocks to increased trade, at India's disadvantage. China benefits from the trade more than India, both by selling more and better products to India and by welcoming Indian investment in China. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Aug 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Managing Governments: Unilever in India and Turkey, 1950–1980
During the postwar decades, consumer-products giant Unilever survived and even thrived in developing countries such as India and Turkey even as business conditions discouraged or drove away peer companies. Why? At least five factors explain Unilever's ability and willingness to persist in such developing countries. These factors may also explain why foreign direct investment shrank to low levels in these countries, and has remained low. Key concepts include: Most important of all, Unilever became embedded in local business and political systems, functioning as a quasi-insider. Unilever held first-mover advantage. Unilever took a long-term investment horizon, believing that sooner or later as incomes rose people would want to consume its products. A decentralized management structure gave Unilever flexibility in adjusting to the different environments of developing countries. Localization of management provided a key competitive advantage. Unilever's policy of staying outside party politics meant that it had few enemies. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Jan 2006
- Research & Ideas
Financial Reporting Goes Global
Globalization is the key issue in determining the future of financial accounting, says professor Gregory S. Miller. And as more countries consider adopting an international accounting standard, India is positioned to be a strong leader. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Podcast: The Potential Partnership of India and China
Even without cooperation between them, China and India appear headed toward economic superpower status in the coming decades. But what if they worked together? In this podcast, Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna discusses the possibility of Sino-Indian cooperation and its impact on global business. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.