Book Review: Billions of Entrepreneurs by Tarun Khanna

"Billions of Entrepreneurs- How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours” written by Tarun Khanna is a laborious but informative read. Khanna speaks in great depth about China and India’s complementary strengths, and how “mutualism” between both nations can facilitate each other’s weaknesses. This contention is by no means new material. Fareed Zakaria also speaks to great depth on this concept in his book, "The Post American World." However, Khanna did go into depth in speaking about successful corporate leveraging of mutualism by America’s GE, China’s Huawei, and India’s Infosys.

Khanna reinforces the notion that the government is the entrepreneur in China. He describes the Chinese government as hierarchical and authoritarian, placing low priority on individual rights. He describes India as fervently democratic, often at the expense of efficiency. Moreover, Khanna contests that Indian entrepreneurs have little faith in the Indian government and try to avoid it at all costs. This, again, is not new information.

In addition, "Billions of Entrepreneurs" serves as a historic dialogue correlating similarities in both Chinese and Indian history. Khanna discusses the colonization of both countries by the British and other nations in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. He explores the significant political revolutions of both countries in the mid-20th century: China’s 1949 Communist revolution and Mao Zedong; India’s 1947 independence and Nehru.

Khanna also discusses the use of hard and soft power by China and India respectively. Again, this is not a new topic. China leverages its solidarity and might to secure regions of long-term resource interests. It has used strong-arm tactics with many of its neighbors, and unflinchingly forms alliances with despotic regimes in Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, India’s private sector has leveraged its success in its knowledge economy to gain global economic relevance. India’s capital markets are also strong and act as a market-based mechanism to incentivize competion within the country.

Overall, Khanna’s "Billions of Entrepreneurs" is a book worth reading- especially for the uninformed reader. To his credit, Khanna includes a plethora of nuance topics and ideas that may be new to informed readers. However, given the key points and takeaways from Khanna’s book, he could have afforded to remove at least a third of the arduous historic and economic verbiage that an informed reader should already know.