BACK OF THE BOOK

Since the 1990s, a mini-publishing industry has sprung up around Toyota Motor Corp, and there are three topics that seem to endlessly fascinate the serious academic and the curious hack alike: One, the Toyota Production System; two, Toyota's product development process and, three, its management practices. (If these are three different subjects and not one, it is because there is so much to be studied and explained about each.) The most famous book on Toyota, which gave the world its first glimpse into the workings of the Japanese auto giant, was called The Machine That Changed The World, and written by three academics: Jim Womack and Daniel Roos of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dan Jones of the University of Sussex. Thereafter, several books have followed, including a sequel by Womack and Jones called Lean Thinking. Dawson's The Relentless Pursuit is only the latest.

So, what's new about Dawson's book? First of all, it is not an attempt to unravel the engineering mysteries that seem to shroud Toyota's superlative manufacturing capabilities. Rather, what the BusinessWeek staffer serves up, is a well-written business story on the making of Lexus-a brand that signaled mass-marketer Toyota's coming of age as a global manufacturer of high-quality luxury cars. A brand that took 400 engineers, 2,300 technicians and about $1 billion to make. Since its debut in 1989, Lexus has sold in excess of 1.3 million cars, and continues to be the No. 1 luxury brand in the US.

LEXUS: THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT By Chester Dawson John Wiley PP: 259 Price: Rs 874.46

Because Relentless is as much about Toyota's culture as systems, it makes for a far easier read than most books on the subject. There is no heavy-duty jargon from the world of manufacturing, there are no complex fish-bone charts or elaborate equations on process capability, and most of all there is no pontification. Dawson tells the Lexus story as it happened. He deftly weaves in tenets of the Toyota philosophy with the personal trials and tribulations of the men involved in the making of Lexus. He explains why Toyota needed a luxury car line, the seemingly insurmountable engineering challenges faced by Lexus designers, and the unique marketing philosophy that the company adopted to break into a market long-dominated by European and American brands. Which is why despite two earlier books on the Lexus (The Lexus Story by Jonathan Mahle, and The Challenge to Create the Finest Automobile by Brian Long), Dawson's effort is well worth a read.

But how relevant is a book on Lexus in a market that hasn't yet had its date with the perfect automobile? That brings me to my next point, which is that you'd be missing out on a lot if you merely read the book on the surface level. There's a lesson to be learnt in Chairman Eiji Toyoda's decision to make not just a luxury car, but the best luxury car in the world; lesson to be learnt in Chief Engineer Ichiro Suzuki's manic commitment to deliver near-impossible automotive quality; and more lesson to be learnt in Toyota's decision to treat the Lexus customer as a guest at one's own home. These are some lessons you can only learn from Toyota, because no other company in the world, not even any other Japanese company, is quite like Toyota.

THE SECURITIES MARKET By G.N. Bajpai Global Business Press PP: 155 Price: Rs 395

With its capital markets so much better developed, shouldn't India's economy be outperforming China's? Not necessarily, and it's a long story why. This book looks at the best that markets can do by way of capital allocation. Written by the Chairman of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country's top market watchdog, and subtitled 'The quest for new benchmarks in regulation and human resources', the book recognises the misallocation perils of distortive policies, while granting the regulator a role as "inventor, facilitator & confidence builder" to argue in favour of regulatory dynamism as a response to market innovations.

As Bajpai envisions the future, globalised trading will be the reality, with the regulator framing the outlines within which securities-of ever-evolving novelty, including royalty receivables such as 'Bowie bonds'-are traded. Trading platforms will converge, new risk tools will emerge, and everything even abstractly tradeable will be traded. So, laissez faire all the way? Well, the book ends with a visibly preachy handout, extolling the karmic virtues of individual self-interest being made subservient to the common good.

POVERTY, VULNERABILITY, AND AGRICULTURE EXTENSION Ed. I. Christoplos & John Farrington OUP PP: 251 Price: Rs 545

If challenges stir you up, and you believe that economic growth's reducing of poverty is a 'probably valid assumption' only in countries where inequality is low, this book on poverty edited by academics Ian Christoplos and John Farrington is the one for you. With field research from India, Vietnam, Bolivia and other places, it examines poverty redressal via 'agricultural extension' ('intervention' presumably sounds all wrong), the critical component of which is information dissemination. Can private initiative accomplish what public efforts have failed to do? That's the question.

INDIA UNTOUCHED By Abraham M. George EastWest Books PP: 390 Price: Rs 295

If academic theorising tires you out, and you want readable insights from the ground experience of battling poverty, try this other book: a personal account of Abraham M. George. A PhD in business administration from New York University, he has written several books on finance. He also runs a software outfit in the US, bemoans India's 44-year socialist tilt, sees 'peace, democracy and free markets' as the three world-conquering ideas of our times, enlightens his capitalism with the concerns of Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, alleges a pronounced anti-US bias in Indian media, and has returned to the country to help the millions left untouched by all the economic vibrancy.

Some of George's observations may seem trite to those familiar with rural India's perplexities; feel free to flip pages. But what you mustn't leave untouched is the middle chapter. Though the author is stronger here on his local understanding than global explanations, he makes it evident that he's not just another clueless NRI trying to play saviour.