From the bookshelves of Forbes India

In the summer of 2010, Xiaomi Corporation didn't start out as a mobile handset company, choosing instead to launch as the company behind MIUI, an operating system based on Google's Android OS. In fact, Xiaomi officially launched as a mobile phone maker in August 2011. Since then, it has managed to become the largest-selling smartphone manufacturer in India, the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world. In his book on 'Xiaomi', Jayadevan P. K., a technology journalist, traces the journey of China opening up a market for smartphones with Motorola, and how it brought lessons for entrepreneurs in China, including Lei Jun, the main man behind Xiaomi.

In the summer of 2010, Xiaomi Corporation didn't start out as a mobile handset company, choosing instead to launch as the company behind MIUI, an operating system based on Google's Android OS. In fact, Xiaomi officially launched as a mobile phone maker in August 2011. Since then, it has managed to become the largest-selling smartphone manufacturer in India, the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world. In his book on 'Xiaomi', Jayadevan P. K., a technology journalist, traces the journey of China opening up a market for smartphones with Motorola, and how it brought lessons for entrepreneurs in China, including Lei Jun, the main man behind Xiaomi.

The book’s title 'From Incremental to Exponential' is a giveaway and Vivek Wadhwa, a tech entrepreneur and a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School and Carnegie Mellon University joins us on today's episode. He points out there will be more disruption in this decade than in the last 50 years. Since 1935, the average membership duration in S&P 500 has fallen from 90 years to less than 20, and it will continue to fall. At the current rate of turnover, a full 75 percent of the current S&P 500 will be replaced in less than a decade. Wadhwa take us through how legacy companies cut the middleman to stay in the game, why he says AI is an excel sheet on steroids, and why Amazon’s monopoly is not a good thing for the Indian market

GE was created in 1892 and it finds its roots with Thomas Edison. But after 110 years, in 2018, GE was booted from Dow Jones. Many pointed fingers at the senior management. In this tell-all podcast, Jeffery Immelt the ex-CEO of GE talks about his time leading the conglomerate, including decisions that went wrong and some which will bear fruits later. In his book Hot Seat, Immelt talks about the various business verticals in detail, especially the breaking up of GE Capital which was one of the drivers of the conglomerate.

Startups and e-delivery models are usually the talks of the town and they have managed to harness growth during the pandemic but what about the old school enterprises? The book 'Transformation In Times of Crisis' by Nitin Rakesh, CEO of Mphasis and Professor Jerry Wind, who taught at Wharton School, delves upon how enterprises are rewiring themselves and adapting to the new normal. The book outlines eight key principles which include agility, mental models, digital transformation, tapping open talent resources among other ideas. The book prods companies to ask themselves to build their new strategy for the new normal.

All of us go through career dilemmas at some point. Shivakumar discusses the top ten dilemmas that we may experience and backs them with research and data to analyse how we can make better career moves. In his book, 'The Right Choice', he says India produces nearly half a million MBAs every year but less than 5 percent of an IIM batch makes it to the CEO’s office, thus explaining that merely possessing a degree from a prestigious institute does not guarantee a ticket to the corner office. He discusses the importance of career moves, board membership and CEO’s dilemmas.

Marketers, globally, are facing an existential crisis as more companies are losing confidence in what marketers can do for their brands. In his book, Rajamannar points out what he calls quantum marketing, the fifth paradigm, that can help marketers to stay relevant in the business. The need to adopt experiential marketing, harnessing machine learning, artificial intelligence, 5G, and more relevant data to create campaigns which can resonate with customers. He also talks about the new ways that he is planning to launch campaigns for Mastercard.

As more people feel dislocated in the face of the inexorable forces of globalisation and technology and lash out against immigrants, free trade, governing elites, Professor Michael Sandel, one of the foremost philosophers in the world and a professor at Harvard University challenges the usual notions of meritocracy in his latest book, 'The Tyranny of Merit: What's become of the common good?' While the book delves more into Donald Trump’s win and Brexit as the base for its narrative, it has lessons for everyone as education plays a key role in how citizenry votes around the world.

Dr. Sudipta Sarangi's debut novel 'The Economics of Small Things' questions our small actions and why we do things the way we do them, and the economics behind them. The book explains concepts of economics with real-life questions, like why we ask for freebies while buying vegetables, and more importantly, why the shopkeeper will give you freebies. The book presents some interesting case studies, including the correlation of the pied piper of Hamelin in the context of economics.

Every pandemic which tore through the Indian subcontinent like in 2020, brought businesses to a standstill. In 1907, India’s GDP contracted by 5 percent due to the impact on agriculture. One of the biggest shocks was felt in 1918, when India’s GDP fell by 10 percent, which, coupled with high inflation, created a classic case of supply-side shock as 20 million Indians lost their lives that year. The Age of Pandemics by Chinmay Tumbe argues the close connection between pandemics, economics and politics that have shaped Indian history in this period and why we need to give a central role to pandemics.