Customer Reviews

Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash With India Over White Collar Jobs

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More than the job losses of some of my IT community friends, my real eye-opener to the growing Indian challenge was when I was doing a little Internet research on Thunder and System X, America's two most powerful supercomputers (Thunder runs at our top nuclear lab Lawrence Livermore), and saw that the manufacturer California Digital was founded and run by Indians. This book has hundreds of such examples.
Even though I was, at first, a little put off by its India-feelgood tone, I believe the author is simply stating facts, and his sometimes strong tone is probably because such facts should have been evident long ago. The Indian IT jobs challenge is clearly not recent, and tomorrow's India with its satellites, rockets and rural broadband will definitely impact massively on the world.
I agree with what the author calls the Emperor's New Clothes and the Rip Van Winkle effect - that those responsible for our future have either been blind with prejudice (oh, those snake charmers !) or playing a game.
I like this book. It is scholarly (there is a massive list of references at the back) without being boring; in fact, the writing style is superb. I also learned a lot about India's rich history and its leading place in the world of science and mathematics, and its huge cultural contributions. These do explain why India is now doing so well. As an American who still believes in freedom, democracy and human rights, I also feel comfortable to know that India has some major advantages over China, including stability and military strength.
This book may have answers to the urgent need for Americans to understand the powerful faraway forces, which are (and have been) shaping our lives. As the author says, India is only doing its job, as it has to.
I still wish the final chapter was a little more detailed, but there are solid recommendations for both our government and American IT workers like myself.

What I like most about this book is the way it connects, explains and provides evidence about a lot of different but major developments: the software jobs crisis in America, the role of Indian-Americans in technology and now in business and finance, the excesses of the dotcom boom, the development of India and its fight against poverty, its huge historical role in developing mathematics and making some of the biggest breakthroughs in science, and of course its continuing rise to eventual superpower status as well as the key differences between it and China.
As an Indian, I have learned a lot about my country and its rich history (from Nalanda to World War II and the Belgian Congo), and understood that some of these unique features explain why it is succeeding in a knowledge-intensive field like IT.
I also advise American colleagues to read this book because it explains that they are not victims to job stealers. I think no discussion on international economics should leave out purchasing power parity any more, and there is a lot on this concept in the book. I believe the first chapter alone is a better explanation of the whole jobs crisis in the US than any one else has done so far, and the list of notes shows how carefully the author has done his homework.

Though I have no pretensions of being a scholar, I believe Rising Elephant will ten years along be noted as THE seminal work of our time.
Everyone knows how successful Indians in Britain are and the emphasis they place on education (I just read they are going to introduce the Theory of Relativity in Indian schools, and kids there are making money providing Americans with online tuition !)
But India also has most of the ingredients in place to displace America. As this wonderful book explains, both India and China are impacting on the world like America itself did at the turn of the 19th century, but the key lies in the difference between the two Asian giants. This is not just about technology (lots of comparative data on IT, biotech, space programs, nuclear technology etc.). It is also about society, culture and more.
When I visit Africa or the Middle East, I do not see a Chinese parallel to Bollywood's influence. I have not heard of Chinese fashion or car designers beginning to strike gold in Paris, Milan and New York. Nor have I heard of a Chinese parallel to people like Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar Khan (which may explain why other than Zubin Mehta, India has produced no world-class Western musicians, unlike the Chinese). And who can argue that China's model of political and religious freedom will inspire anybody ? So this is not about just IT, or economics and business.
As our rich, self-satisfied societies here begin to age, India's influence will be far-reaching. This book explains it with remarkable sophistication and readability, and just in case you have doubts, check the 30 pages of footnotes.
But get prepared for India's arrival. And if, like me, you have just visited Sri Lanka and seen whose military very quickly but quietly did most of the work there, while the Americans took the credit (at least on TV), spend a lot of time studying the chapter which speaks of the Great Indian Absence.

If this book has drawn comments about its "aggrandizement" of Indian culture, that surely is a compliment. This is especially true when the commentator has nothing at all to justify this criticism, other than the laughable idea that India did not exist in the "9th to the 13th centuries". More than its age as a civilization, what is important as this book's author explains with its arsenal of annotated references, is the unique continuity of India, its very 'Indianness'. Mark Twain understood that and is quoted for this by the author. Secondly, we hear about the success of Indian IT being explained by the disparity between the dollar and the rupee. Much of Rising Elephant IS about the artificial exchange rate system, which is described as a Moebius strip, and analyzed (incidentally, without ever once attacking the 'quality' of American IT people) in the section: Whose Goalposts ? Cheap India or Overpriced West ? No, the reasons for India's IT stardom are different. The third chapter explains what exactly was happening and who was doing the 'real stuff', amidst the 'frenzy' of Silicon Valley's casino players.
In a world where CNN, BBC and Yahoo News have Top Stories (in their global editions) about 'Florida boy escapes alligator attack', an explanation about the quiet but steady rise at the highest-value end of the global economy of a onetime (and still for many in the West) Third World basketcase is surely disturbing, especially when one imagines it did not exist until (I assume) the British arrived.
It is a pity that the book was written before the famous Cope India airforce exercises between the US and India (which it does refer to as being planned), where the Indians registered a 9-1 victory. I have just read a piece in a US defence publication that the Indians were simply out-thinking the USAF, which was running a textbook drill, and "did not expect" the Indians to be as good.
There is a parallel here with what Rising Elephant explains was why Netscape and Silicon Graphics' Jim Clark preferred to work as far as possible with Indians alone, because of their "imagination" and their "lust for the kill", mental of course.
This is a good way to show the interconnected nature of India's emergence - the same process at work in the software industry as in the military.
This is what I learned from Rising Elephant: the 'Indianness' of India is its strength. Interesting that neither the New York Times or Washington Post has yet reviewed the book, since there is so much evidence in the footnotes to show how badly wrong they have always got India.

Where's a 6th star to rate this book?! Not only excellent (well-written, well-organized), but an eye-opening ouvrage which should be required reading at any university's economics department worthy of the name. Ditto for businessmen interested in outsourcing, an inevitable fact of modern-day economic growth. There are many oponents of outsourcing (if one sees what is happening currently in China, one understands), however what this has done to boost local growth in a positive manner in India is simply short of phenomenal.
To not have this book, if anything, simply as a reference book, would be a mistake. Highly recommended...

First of all this book is not just about outsourcing and low wage sweatshops in India! Infact, author uses the word 'relocation' in entire book, which is rightly so. It presents outsourcing in a much wider context of emergence of India and its growing strengths in world stage. The best thing about this book is the balance of perspectives from all the three places i.e. US, Europe and of course Asia. The book covers not just software but other aspects like high impact technology both military and civil, vibrant democracy, social structures, policital implications blends everything in the central theme of the book on relocation of jobs. This book is very well researched and referenced. Anyone who wishes to build on this topic further will most definitely consult this book. This is an impressive and seminal work and yet not boring, even for not very scholarly minded.

Took possession of this book Saturday and stayed up all night reading. After the simplicisms of Lou Dobbs, this is a truly encyclopaedic work, well written and impressively researched.
The book clearly shows the complex roots of the IT jobs decline in America and the extensive long-term economic and political challenges by India to our livelihoods and global power. After reading this book, it is clear that it is India not China that we should be keeping an eye on, especially since very few Americans know just how fast India is developing. I recommend Rising Elephant to both John Kerry and George Bush, and to all Americans concerned about how the world will change in the next decade or two.

I read the book couple of years ago. It is an excellent resource for understanding Indian IT industry and some other sectors. I read the book now and then just to refresh myself, and to compare latest trends with those predicted in the book.

I found the 'one star reviews' to be funny. Author was trying to expose and counter these kind of views many times in the book. For people who are not intimately familiar with India and Indian business it will be pretty hard to understand.

Let me counter some of the oft repeated myths mentioned in these reviews.

Comparison to China, Japan and some other countries - Which country has 500 million people under the age of 25? 750 million people under 35? There is a reason why Indian IT companies are outdoing their own targets(targets set in 2002); they are on par to achieve 60 billion USD exports target by 2010. In "huge" relocation tide, scaling ability decides the fate. I respect other countries' achievements, but this is an area best suitable for India.

AIDS - as can be seen often when it comes to India related stuff, international organizations erred big time. Eventually some body analyzed their erroneous reports and predictions, and came to the conclusion that different 'sexual habits' of Indians(compared to Africans) may be the reason why number of AIDS patients did not scale up in India as fast as they have predicted. These international organizations lost credibility, I would say rightly so. That is what happens when people view India thru 'Africa lens'. Or for that matter 'Japan lens'/'China lens'.

Military - Unlike other countries who are happy to purchase F16s and what not from foreign buyers, India is exploring joint manufacturing opportunities. India recently reviewed and modernized its defense procurement/production quietly. Because of 'offset obligation' foreign manufacturers will be forced to work with domestic companies thereby scaling up production with in India. I see export possibility(parts, service, etc) in future. I was not surprised when Boeing announced recently, a tie up with Tata group for airline parts production. As the author would say, this kind of tie ups would be inevitable in future. India doesn't have a credible army? Tell that to American armed forces, who are conducting regular exercises with Indian counterparts.

Underestimating India is an oft repeated exercise among people with limited India related knowledge. Let me end with a quote -

"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles." - Winston Churchill on the eve of Indian Independence

There is little doubt the globalization is the dominant economic force of the 21st century. In the wake of its rapid development much of the general public is at a loss as to its meaning and its impact on the world’s economy. It behooves all of us to have some understanding of it as it impacts all our lives. To that end I read several books on the topic but they were mostly related to China’s dominance in the manufacturing sector. Some of the books I read were “Three Billion New Capitalists”, “The Travels of a T-Shirt in a Global Economy”, “China, Inc” and “The Chinese Century”. Since I found them enjoyable and most of all informative I thought that I should read something about the other Asian outsourcing juggernaut, India.

“Rising Elephant” can best be described as a poorly written annotated bibliography of accolades praising India’s achievement as the outsourcing destination of Western white collar jobs and in particular information technology. Obviously Mr. Sheshabalaya is well read in contemporary business, financial, and technical publications but he is unable to take all that information, synthesize it, analyze it, and present to the reader a coherent work rather than as an endless series of paraphrases from popular sources. His book reads like a college freshman paper where the student paraphrases and footnotes each sentence. Students do this because though they may have read the material they are unable to synthesize what they read.

My second complaint with Mr. Sheshabalaya is his aggrandizement of Indian culture and achievement. He writes for instance:

“Cambodia’s celebrated Angkor Vat is ancient Indian architecture, Indonesia’s Javanese tradition and language are clearly a result of strong Indian influence” (p.196).

Did Mr. Sheshabalaya ever stop and consider that the “celebrated Angkor Vat” temples were built in a period spanning from the 9th to the 13th centuries during which time there was neither Cambodia nor India, as we know it today.

There is no doubt that India is the world’s capital of software development and India has many talented people but Mr. Sheshabalaya seems to think that India’s dominance is by divine caveat. He should bear in mind that India’s success is due to the disparity between the dollar and rupee and not divine decree. If western corporate interests were not reaping huge profits from “job relocation”, Mr. Sheshabalaya’s euphuism for offshoring, then the white-collar jobs would have either remained in the West or they would be elsewhere where the cost of labor is substantially lower. Already there is talk in the press of seeking cheaper white-collar labor markets to boost profits yet further. As India moves up the value chain they start loosing their “competitive edge”. The dragon is hot on the heels of the elephant.

If you want to understand globalization and its impact I suggest you read Clyde Prestowitz’s “Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East”. If you want to read a laundry list of Indian achievements then read this book.

As George Bush visits India and recognizes it as a nuclear power (did he really have a choice ?) - what amazes me is that he has backed off any comments about either outsourcing or solving Kashmir.
I find this analysis from Rising Elephant absolutely stunning:

"Still, as India emerges from behind its externally-cast veil of Gandhian nonviolence and general good-neighbourliness (with the obvious exception of Pakistan), it is also important to take close note of the fact that the Elephant has never hesitated to act in its own interests. At present, a strategic alliance with America is a clear priority. The speed of progress of this alliance is breathtaking and its implications profound, once again in terms of complicating and limiting space for a single issue like white-collar job relocation."
"Indeed, few serious observers doubt any longer that India is a fast-rising world power, and its growing presence will have to be accepted. This process has already begun."
Get it ?