Small Business Labs

"The Elephant and the Dragon" - The Rise of India and China

Recently read the book "The Elephant and the Dragon - The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of US".  It provides a easy and fun to read overview of the amazing growth going on in both China (which I discussed in a previous post) and India.  The book has lots of interesting data like:

"...in 2000 30% of the world's toys came from China.  Five years later, a stunning 75% of all new toys were made in China."

It also discusses how the economic growth of China and India is reducing global poverty.  Key quote:

"The combined growth of India and China during the past two decades has cut the portion of the world living in extreme poverty from 40 percent to 20 percent..."

It is obvious that China and India will both have a major impact businesses of all sizes over the next decade.  They are already providing stiff competition for a variety of US businesses and industries, but their economic growth will also create new markets and new opportunities.

 

Rural B-School Empowers Indian Women

Another good piece on business education in rural India for micro-entrepreneurs.

Rural B-School Empowers Indian Women

On the first day of a 10-day business course, 15 women are gathered in an 8-by-10-foot classroom in western India, absorbing the nuances of finance. Teaching in the local Marathi language, the female instructor peppers her talk with examples to explain investments, credit, profit and loss, and market accessibility. The advanced finance course also will cover such topics as how to start a business, marketing techniques, loan options for seed capital, and determining selling prices for products. And then there's a mandatory session on building confidence.

It's B-school, with a difference. Those who have enrolled are a far cry from typical management students anywhere else in the world. There's a sheep and goat herder, a bangle vendor, a tea seller, a daily wage laborer, and even a homemaker. And the cost is not the thousands of dollars that a standard B-school charges—but the equivalent of $2.50 for the entire course.....

BusinessWeek: India Small Biz are Big IT Spenders

Businessweek Asia online has an interesting piece today on the transformation of small business in India as it invests heavily in information technology.

India Small Biz: Big IT Spenders:
In its latest report released Wednesday, the research house said that spending on storage products and services is set to reach US$480 million this year, of which India's small businesses--defined as having fewer than 100 employees--will account for the lion's share of the investment.

GEM on China and India

One of the most interesting findings of the 2007 GEM report (see prior post describing GEM below) is the entrepreneurial differences between China and India.  According to the GEM report:

"The world’s two largest emerging economies, China and India, exhibit significantly different levels of high-expectation and high-growth entrepreneurship.  The difference between China and Indiais over sixfold."

You have to actually dig a bit to see what they mean by this, but if you do you will find that the percentage of high-expectation and high-growth entrepreneurs is 6X higher in China than India (see prior post on GEM or the GEM Report for definitions).  If these differences sustain themselves over time, the two countries will have a very different economic structures and impact the rest of the world in very different ways.