Acknowledgments

Writing this book has been a personal as well as professional journey for both of us. We (Anil and Haiyan) were born and grew up in India and China, respectively. We had our early education in our native lands and started our professional careers there. Each of us has also made the United States home for over fifteen years. During this period, we have conducted extensive research on strategy and globalization and worked in advisory capacities for a large number of companies in many parts of the world, especially North America, Europe, and Asia. This book is a product of the accumulated learning that we acquired through countless interactions with professional colleagues and clients, combined with fresh research. We owe a debt to all of them.

Given the constraints of space, it is impossible for us to acknowledge each of the individuals who played a critical role in either encouraging us to undertake this project or in educating us about China and India. We would, however, like to identify some of the people who have played a particularly central role. We start with our parents (Charan Dass and Chandra Prabha Gupta in the case of Anil and Wang Yi and Chen ZongRong in the case of Haiyan). Having witnessed the transformation of India and China up close, they encouraged us to write a book that will help the world understand that the rise of these two countries is a back-to-the-future story and not a new phenomenon. Vijay Govindarajan (VG), Anil's classmate at Harvard and close friend and coauthor for over twenty-five years, played an important role in motivating us to get this project off the ground by reinforcing our conclusion that most multinational corporations have little more than a superficial understanding of China and India and that we have something valuable to say. David Wang and Mei Xu, Haiyan's brother and sister-in-law, played an equally important role in persuading her that when you believe in something, it is better to just do it rather than spend too much time debating the pros and cons. As successful entrepreneurs who have leveraged the U.S.-China corridor to create a rapidly growing enterprise, they have shared their insights about the do's and don'ts of leveraging China for global advantage. Other close friends who provided encouragement in the early stages of developing this book include our mutual friends Paresh Shah and Prashanth Boccassam (PV), entrepreneurs extraordinaire who know how to capitalize on the complementary strengths of the United States, India, and Europe to create and deliver valuable products and services.

Kathe Sweeney, senior editor at Jossey-Bass, has been a central player in helping us launch this project and in pushing us to get it completed without too much delay. Along with The Quest for Global Dominance, this is the second book project on which we have collaborated with Kathe. Given her role as senior editor for one of the world's leading publishers, her enthusiasm and guidance have been particularly important in bringing this project to fruition.

Our parents, VG, David, Mei, Paresh, PV, Kathe, and the large number of friends, colleagues, and clients: thank you all for giving us your time, friendship, care, and the benefit of your insights. Although we alone are responsible for the deficiencies that remain, we hope that you will be proud of the final product.