Last year, I read Three Billion New Capitalists, an excellent treatment of the opportunities and challenges we're facing in a global environment. I recently started reading The World is Flat, which I think is an excellent primer on these issues.
So, I think Flat is the primer, and Three Billion is the in-depth analysis of the drivers of these challenges and opportunities. What I need is a book that looks forward and addresses how businesses (especially small businesses) can exploit these trends. It's very easy to say "outsource the grunt work to India," but actually executing is an entirely different matter. How does one select a vendor or partner? What are the risks, legal and otherwise? What are the implications, organizationally? Financially? Are there alternatives, such as the JetBlue "home sourcing" model described in Flat? What about other countries, e.g., Australia? What about Canada?
I don't think a book can answer these questions. Indeed, I don't think one should try. However, I think a good book that describes a framework to help business owners analyze these issues could be quite useful and valuable.
Any suggestions?
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