Book Description

In The China Dream, acclaimed business journalist Joe Studwell takes to task the predictions that China will become an economic juggernaut on the world stage in the twenty-first century -- and instead foresees an economic crisis. He argues that since the days of Marco Polo, Western nations have seen the vast population of the Middle Kingdom as a fantastic opportunity for expanding trade, investing time and resources again and again in the hope to develop it, only to see, century after century, its economy crash and their dreams turn to dust. Studwell traces the most recent developments in China from Deng Xiaoping's "liberalization" of its market in the 1980s through the opening of its economy to foreign investment in the 1990s. In his rigorous analysis of the Chinese economy, government, and culture, Studwell also shows the roadblocks to the continuation of the country's unprecedented expansion and why its economy will fail once more -- but this time, harder than ever before, and with potentially catastrophic results. Provocative, flawlessly researched, and endlessly engaging, The China Dream is a book that will have the business and political worlds talking about what's really going on in China -- and what we can do to prepare for the coming crisis. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

China's roaring nineties - the best assessment in print
Joe Studwell, a British freelance journalist who lived in and reported from China from 1991 until 1999, has written one of the best-informed insiders' books about the Chinese economy in the boom years of the 1990s that is on the market. The book is excellently researched, well documented (60 pages of notes accompany 300 pages of text) and profits from a wealth of experience gathered "on the ground."

The main thesis of the book is that many big Western companies substitute a blurry, optimistic picture of a vast potential market for a balanced view based on hard data. When it comes to China, wishful thinking replaces critical distance and realistic assessment.

One thing that "The China Dream" explains very clearly is the extent to which two economies in China exist parallel to each other. One is the old socialist economy that is protected from change and the market forces. The other is a vibrant, export -oriented economy of manufacturing plants that assemble goods under the management of mostly Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies. The latter is the poster child for China, but the former continues to gobble up the people's savings to churn out the products that the planners want to see. Stripped of the success story of the export-oriented manufacturing companies, China's economy looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

Studwell is not a China-basher. He admires the stamina and determination of the small entrepreneurs in China who manage to hold their ground against a rapacious bureaucracy, the lack of credit from state-owned banks and the dumping strategies of pampered state-owned enterprises.

Earlier reviewers have criticized "The China Dream" as biased and uninformed (no CEO interviews). Having worked in China for three years, my impression is that Joe Studwell has a very solid grasp of the economic and political realities in the People's Republic of China, and that there is no point in listening to the rosy projections of CEOs and foreign luminaries who were "toured about in government limousines and fed an endless diet of spurious statistics"(255).

In a nutshell: This book is absolutely recommended reading for anyone who wishes to work in China or just wants to know what to make of all the praise lavished on a socialist developing country.

A Superb Antidote to the China Hype
There's an incredible amount of hype about China's economic market. Its huge population, high-skilled low-wage work force, and relative political stability for a developing country all act as a powerful lure to multinationals eager to set up shop and begin selling to one-quarter of the world's population. Under tough negotiations from Chinese officials, these companies tend to give away the kitchen sink to ensure they get access to the huge market. But what do they get in return?

Joe Studwell does a service to the informed public by clearly demonstrating that almost all the businesses who have gone to China have gotten next to nothing for their technology transfers, special fees, and tremendous time and effort they've dedicated to the market. Almost uniformly, they have high-balled their expected sales and profits from the Middle Kingdom and found immense barriers such as unseen regulations and fees, corrupt officials, unenforced laws, local spin-offs to their products, etc., that should have sent them packing. Yet almost all of them push on, undeterred.

As Studwell explains, the reason for this is an old phenomenon among Western businessmen he calls "The China Dream." Despite continual setbacks, these hard-headed businessmen are too attracted to the possibility that they have something to sell that even a small percentage of Chinese may want to buy. Those huge potential numbers are too much of an enticement to businesses to easily let go of their foothold in China.

But Studwell's book is more than just about the experience of foreign businessmen in China. It also shows that the China market is becoming a trap for the Chinese people themselves. They work hard and save, and the government confiscates and then destroys their money by trapping it in state-owned banks that are insolvent because they lend to state-owned enterprises that are unproductive.

"The China Dream" is well-written and informative. Its thesis is provocative, but well supported. Studwell argues there is no rational basis for much of China's economic success and that most of its market is as closed and overregulated as the Soviet Union's. This book should be required reading for every CEO of a multinational who dreams of selling in China.

"The China Reality"
An excellent book outlining the history of china in relation to its economic structure and trade development, covering the previous few centuries up to the present. Unfortunately it is the same old story inherent in any mania , value goes out of the window and the ability to analyse is crowded out by greed.

I love the frank account of the CEO's absurd optimism about china in the face of so much contrary evidence. China will one day be the largest economic power in the world and its domestic market will eventually become highly developed, unfortunately this cannot happen in the present repressive climate.

I would like to have been furnished with 1 or 2 maps as being a rather ignorant westerner in relation to china's geography, i found placing the different areas a little difficult. However this does not really detract from this being an excellent book and a must read for those who wish to view some contrary opinion about china. This is very welcome instead of the glowing clap trap we are pushed in the west.

Poorly researched
If you only use the 18th and 19th centuries as guide then of course China never made anybody money. I know of NO CEOs today who studied this period. All they now care about is that they get a foot in the door of this huge booming market before their competitors do, and it's a scramble. Many companies have made 100%, 200% or more return on their investment in a couple of years, which must be news to Studwell basking in the Italian sun.

Read David Sheff's China Dawn and Cesar Bacani's The China Investor for a look at the future.

A Nightmare of a Book
This poorly written book suffers from many flaws, not the least of which is the author's lack of access to informed sources. One of the most important things one needs to do when writing a book of this sort is interviewing the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and this author has failed to do this, the most basic homework.

For every anecdote one can easily find a hundred anecdotes making the opposite point. If you choose your anecdotes with care, you can prove almost anything. I don't find Studwell's conclusions very convincing. Studwell's choice of historical cases are misleading. When China was prosperous, it was a closed country. By the time Europeans were able to invest, China was in the midst of war and revolution. After the war China was closed again (except to Soviets). The last two decades of reform were also unsuitable for foreign investment, due to structural instability.

If Studwell is right, then I have a hard time understanding why:

(a) Henry Kissinger called China "the most ascendant" among all contemporary world powers (Europe included) ;
(b) Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Sec. of Defense) said China will soon achieve superpower status within 50 years (by 2025 at the earliest), adding "and that's pretty fast by historical standards";
(c) Jack Welch (of GE) predicted China will be "very competitive" and advised managers doing pie charts to "leave half the pie" for the Chinese, who will "threaten your very existence";
(d) Margaret Thatcher described China as "undoubtedly on course to become an economic superpower", and had this to say about the Chinese people: "everywhere they go they show the same spirit of enterprise and self-reliance, and given the right economic framework, nothing is beyond them";
(e) Joseph Stiglitz, (Clinton's chief economics adviser, former chief economist at the World Bank & Nobel Laureate in Economics) is very bullish and optimistic about China's future, contrasting with his gloomy views of Russia;
(f) Arlen Specter (US Senator, Appropriations & Judiciary Committees) called China "the coming colossus";
(g) Joseph Nye and Sameul Huntington (Harvard dons) predicted China's swift rise to be a problem for the US;
(h) JM Roberts and Eric Hobsbawm (British historians) used "superpower" or "potential superpower" to describe China;
(i) Jeffrey Garten (Dean of Yale's School of Management) called China "the second most important country in the world";
(j) Gregory Chow (distinguished Princeton econometrist) calculated China's economy (gross GDP in purchasing power parity) to be bigger than that of the US by 2025 - even allowing for flawed statistics.

Studwell also chose to ignore the very successful British firms operating in Hong Kong. The drug dealers who brought opium to China got fabulously rich - most were British, while a handful, like Warren Delano (FDR's grandfather), were Americans. Their wealth equalled that of the Vanderbilts. And their legacy persists to this day: the HSBC - the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - is now the world's third most important bank.

Let people be swayed by the naysayers and sensationalists: it's HARDER to make money when everybody is rushing in to invest. ... Read more

Book Description

Drawing on the extensive and unparalleled international marketing experience of its authors, International Marketing takes a comprehensive look at the environment, problems, and practices of todays international marketing arena. This text gives students a real-world taste of this dynamic field, preparing them for entry into the marketing workplace of the 21st century. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A complete idea of international business
I liked this book. I am doing the international MBA at Maryville University. The book is very complete and has great illustrations, graphics, and web links.
Is a very interesting book, and I will keep it. But I think that although there is a chapter related to logistics, the book is not deeply mentioning import and export procedures and other custom and paperwork problems that international business faces.

Comprehensive Discussion of International Marketing
As a Georgetown University student who took the author's class, I found this textbook to be the most comprehenisve International Marketing source around. I currently own two textbooks written by the same authors because of the book's clear, organized topics. This textbook is perfect for beginners who would like to learn more about International Marketing as a guide for professionals who have to make challenging decisions.

A Great Text
I am a student at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences. I found this book to be very interesting and fun to read. Other students here, for whom English is not their first language, enjoy the book becuase it is clear and easy to understand. This should be standard reading for all international buisness/marketing students.

Thorough Coverage of Every Facet of International Marketing
This textbook is organized into three major sections:

Part One: The International Environment - includes chapters on the concept of global marketing, the world economy, foreign economies, the people of the world and the political-legal environment.

Part Two: International Marketing Management - includes chapters on global marketing strategy, international marketing intelligence, product policy, new product development, foreign market entry, foreign market channels and global logistics, promotion and advertising, pricing, and marketing of services.

Part Three: Coordinating International Marketing - includes chapters on planning, organizing and control of international marketing, information technology and the future of international marketing.

The text is liberally sprinkled with interesting and relevant illustrations, case studies and examples. As either a textbook or reference source, it is an excellent up-to-date overview on every aspect of international marketing.

My only criticism is that the page after page of dense text could have been enlivened considerably with the use of color graphics and illustrations.

International Marketing Terpstra
A prescribed text book for MBA students. Unfortunately I found it somewhat lacking in depth and had to resort to others. ... Read more

Book Description

This Sourcebook helps the students to develop the international perspective that is requisite in business today.This book is a collection of original case studies and exercises that teaches how to work effectively and comfortably with individuals who may not share the same belief systems, values, or communication styles.The material in this book covers many of the potential problem areas that confront international managers and domestic managers working with different ethnic groups. These include human resource issues, financial and economic situations that cause stress, and consumer behavior in new and unfamiliar environments. "Sourcebook" emphasizes some of the issues and concerns students need to be aware of when dealing with other cultures, and the importance of studying in-depth the culture, history, politics, and geography of an area. ... Read more

Book Description

Written by one of today's leading authorities on global branding

Establishing and managing a global brand­­is made more challenging by the cultural, political, and economic differences that exist among the world's consumers. Branding Across Borders addresses the issue of global branding head-on, going beyond the brand itself to address how a corporation must fine-tune its own organizational structure before it can effectively extend and manage its brands in the global marketplace.

Branding Across Borders offers key insights on developing a powerful, memorable global brand strategy. Executives of all levels can look to it for:

• A 10-step strategy for communicating a brand in an interactive world
• Examples of successful global branding as practiced by today's leading international marketers
• Key insights from the Corporate Branding IndexTM­­an annual survey designed to spotlight vital branding practices and statistics

Reviews (1)

Corporate branding consultant promotes his view
Before buying this book it may help you to know that the writer is CEO of CoreBrand - Corporate Branding LLC, a smaller version of Roper Starch Worldwide, or Interbrand. As such it treads a thin line between general usefulness to the marketing manager and promotional material for CoreBrands own proprietary models such as their "brand power" ranking system. Although the book does not give away too many secrets about how CoreBrand's models actually work.

Whether the text will be of use to you depends largely on your needs. For a marketing manager the price of this book is a lot cheaper than a consultant's per diem. For an MSc or MBA in Marketing this book is not academically rigorous enough to be of much use to you. There are a wealth of academic texts that will give greater insight and hard case evidence into the pros and cons of globalizing brands. Author names to search under are Aaker, Keller, Usunier, Jeannet, Hollensen, Kashani among others. ... Read more

Book Description

This book, by East-West marketing consultant Chin-ning Chu, is must reading for any Westerner in business, government, or academia who negotiates in the Orient or wants to.

It is the first to reveal to Westerners the deep secrets of the Asian psyche that influence Asian behavior in business, politics, lifestyle, and battle.

Ms. Chu points out that Asian mind games have become so finely tuned over the centuries that Americans seldom realize that Asians view the marketplace (and by extension, the world) as a battlefield, and act accordingly.

She has extracted the principles of successful negotiations from centuries-old Chinese texts that have influenced all of Asia, and provides her readers with examples of their application in the modern world.

In the Western world, the ability to formulate cunning and subtle strategies for getting your own way in business, politics, and everyday life is regarded as a matter of intuition. In Asia, however, strategic thinking is a formal discipline studied by people from all walks of life. Amazing as it may seem, contemporary Asians base their outlook and behavior on the teachings of the ancients. In China, even children are familiar with the "36 Strategies," formulated by Sun Tzu, a famous military strategist, in the fourth century B.C.

Throughout Asia today, business people as well as political figures study Sun Tzu's Art of War and apply its strategies to all their activities, while Americans read The One-Minute Manager and All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten. No wonder, Ms. Chu comments, that when it comes to business and political negotiations, the Chinese refer to Americans with a word that means "innocent children."

Ms. Chu brilliantly analyses how Chinese thought and culture have affected Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and how Japanese conquest and culture have had their effect on the rest of Asia.

With United States trade and political alliances shifting increasingly to the Pacific rim, it becomes ever more urgent to understand the Asian mind. Ms. Chu, born in China and educated in Taiwan, spells out the makeup of the Asian psyche as no Westerner could. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

An interesting read
This is a frank discussion of the Oriental mind-set by an Oriental living in the US. I found the historic context quite fascinating. I had heard about the "The Art of War" and it was nice to get some background as well as a summary. I particulary liked the historic illustrations of use of the strategies.

Insights into business etiquette, social hierarchy and what to be aware of in each of the regions is given.

Since the book was written (1990) the economic miracle of Japan has stalled, so it would be interesting to get an update as to how the attitudes of workers may have changed in the intervening period where job security is no longer assured.

Revealing the hidden Asian secret
If you like "What they don't teach you at Harvard Business School", then you shouldn't give this book a miss. "The Asian Mind Game" takes you through an intriguing journey into the Asian's mindset and prepare you for the shock you will encounter in your business dealings with Asians. Verdict: Must read. From: Alan Koo Teck Chye Address:75-C Rose Garden Amber Road Singapore 439889 Tel: (65)3455460

Succeeding in Asian Trade
Chin-ning Chu's book is a must if you want to make it work if you travel to Asia, especially China. What to expect, how things work, the mind of those you will be trading with.

Chu's purpose in writing this book is the averting of what she would see to be a potential trade war between east and west. Can it be avoided, she thinks yes.

Having grown up in mainland China near the north, near Korea and living in Taiwan for years, a country with Japanese influence, she relates the expectations and approaches these cultures have. The differences and similarities.

Since she is an Asian, from Asia, with upbringing in these cultures, she can talk about it withtout ramifications. I recommend this to anyone working for or with an Asian company.

High Entertainment Value
I read this book many years ago and recall being hugely amused by it and its numerous stereotypes. In fact, I gave it to a sociology PhD candidate studying Chinese culture for a good laugh. I regret parting with it because it is quite a unique artifact, being quite comprehensive in its stereotypes of various Asian nationalities. Nevertheless, I can see the value of the book for those completely unfamiliar with Asian culture and desperately grasping for some way to categorize what seems to be inexplicable behavior, since the first response to unfamiliarity is to attempt to build categories to group and generalize. As such, I might recommend it, but only with the caveat that its contents should not be taken as authoritative.

Go see Austin Powers instead
OK, this is NOT a recommended title, but I couldn't resistsaying a few words about it here because of its high entertainmentvalue. For 15 years now I have consulted for US companies entering the Japanese market. So naturally I paid close attention to the chapters on Japan. They were very entertaining. They read like the script from a Mr Bad Guy in a 007 movie... Check out the prose, too: "A Japanese samurai worker produces in one day what it takes an American worker two days to produce. To the western world the Japanese stress the importance of free trade because they know that the western worker is no match for the Japanese samurai worker" (p. 125). .. The final section contains precious specific advice such as "respect local culture" and "develop long term objectives". One of the deepest pieces of timeless advise is that "if you drop your chopstick in Asia it means good luck". I guarantee you won't know a thing about doing business in Japan after reading this book, but you may be amused reading it. ... it seems that a ticket to Austin Powers may represent better value. END ... Read more

Book Description

This book is designed to provide the economic skills to make better management or policy decisions relating to energy. It requires a facility with calculus and contains a toolbox of models along with institutional, technological and historical information for oil, coal, electricity, and renewable energy resources. ... Read more

Book Description

The growth of a single global market is having far-reaching and profound effects on what we eat, with corresponding implications for public health. This is the first full examination, by two of the world's leading food policy experts, of these developments.

From nutrition to antibiotics, from heart disease to food poisoning, what matters now is not just what we eat, but how it has been produced, distributed and processed. A new, global politics of food and health is emerging. In the North, the linkages of trade, food and health have been apparent in the reactions to BSE in beef and GM crops. In many developing countries, endemic problems of a 'Western' diet have been imported, so that coronary disease, food-related cancers, obesity and diabetes are found alongside food shortages. The policy responses continue to be contradictory, with health ministries trying to stem the rise of food-related disease, while trade ministers commit their food and agriculture industries to the policies that cause the problems.

The authors show how public health cannot be regarded as a barrier to 'free' trade, under agreements that allow powerful corporations and rich consumers to treat the world as their larder. Giving it the importance it demands will require a new, ecological and population-based conception of public health. There are many signs that this is emerging to be one of the main political agendas of the coming century.

The book will be essential and stimulating reading for everyone professionally or academically involved - or merely concerned - with health policy, agricultural and food policy and globalization issues. ... Read more

Amazon.com

We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."

In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?

Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.

But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan ... Read more

Reviews (133)

In-depth look at the dark side of our modern global economy
A tremendous amount of research and analysis has gone into this informative study of the dark secrets behind the brands that dominate our lives in Western society. The neglect and deliberate lack of social responsibility, both alarming and disturbing, that has become a central element to the maufacturing and business activities of some of the world's largest and most recognizeable brand names is staggering. How can these self-proclaimed leaders of our economy be so callous? Klein details their motivation and the evolution of such nefarious practices, as well as the collusion of corrupt and greedy local authorities in developing nations, which serve to sustain and propogate such injustice. On the flip side, Klein offers hope through her exaustive examination of the counter-movements that have to a degree succeeded in keeping the rampant exploitation of the afore-mentioned multinationals in check and on their toes. The book is written in an open and accessible tone, with down-to-earth interpretations of the patterns of disdain for labourers and their rights as well as for the environment and our planet's dimishing natural resources, all in an unrelenting quest to reinforce the brand name and dominate the market share. I for one will never look at brand logos such as the Nike swoosh, the same again. For that matter, thanks to this important and timely book, I will carefully monitor such questions as freedom of expression and the control that such corporations as Wal-Mart have on the content of what we as consumers have access to.

Major flaw in growth rate analysis
With in a few pages of this book I found a glaring error that somewhat negates Kliens argument. I'm refering to the claimed "astronomical" increase in advertising by corporations over 19 years. Klien shows a graph of year versus advertising expense (in billions). It starts at 50 billion (in the mid 70's) and grows to just under 200 billion in the late 1990s' (1996 I think). Anyway any first year finance student with a financial calculator can calculate what kind of increase this is. (ie present value = 50, future value = 195, n= 19 solve for interest) This calculation gives compounding annual percent increase of about 7.5 %. This, dear Naomi, is not by any stretch of imagination, is an "astronomical" rate of increase. It is essentially the rate of inflation. This is what would expect for any company that their expenses would rise with inflation. Note that share price growth rates far outstripped these advertising expenses. Infact looking at her figure (1.1 i think) you see that advertising costs basically followed the economic cycle with less spent in reccessions and more in the good times. You could draw a similar graph for wages expense etc. etc. Unfortunately the arguments constructed on the basis of "astronomical" increases of advertising expenses are therefore wrong as they as based on an incorrect premise.

This glaring bit of ignorance on the authors part causes the reader to question how else other data and information is incorrectly presented or mistakenly interpreted. To be credible the journalist/researcher/Naomi has to take a dispassionate stance and see what the numbers are actually saying rather than what you want them to say. Any thing less, and your fooling yourself and misleading your readers.

I'm not finished the book yet and I hope not to find another howler like this or I won't bother to keep going.

Ps. I'm finding the book interesting, I'm just very dissapointed in such a dreadful error in logic occurring so early in the book.

Still Relevant
Although some of the material presented here is dated, I feel that this book is still very relavent today. Everyone should be aware of the level of infiltration these brands have made in our society and our everyday lives.

There were several ideas that I took away from the book that I felt were very important (and I hadn't really read about in depth before). I particularly liked the discussion of the 'brand and not product focus' idea. I didn't enjoy the discussion of culture jamming nor did I really like the way that she tended to revisit the same events over and over through the book (the McLibel Trial).

Overall, I liked the book and it stirred my interest enough in the subject to do some research of my own into these issues.

A great read, a wonderful find
Superb, powerful impact, well written, hard to put down. A truly important book discussing today's society and the corrosive impact we all knew existed, but couldn't describe. Klein does - extremely well. She has the insider's knowledge, the perspective of one not infected, and the intellectual analysis which lets us mere mortals peek into the steel souls and hearts of today's boardrooms and corporate cabals.

A book worth having. Don't lend it out! it will grow legs and disappear!

A book that should be more widely read
Despite having become modestly dated in its details (a updated edition or follow-up work would be welcomed), Naomi Klein's book No Logo remains an important work about the blurring boundaries between global business and global culture. Since its publication, much of the globalization furor directed at Kathy Lee, McDonald's, Nike, Shell Oil, Pepsi, and others has died down or been redirected at health, local impact (e.g., Wal-Mart stores) and other important but ancillary issues (take, for example, the movie Super Size Me). The fact that the noise has subsided does not, however, mean that the problems Ms. Klein cites have disappeared. More likely, the companies subjected to such scathing public rebuke have better learned how to play the game, managing their PR more effectively and hiding further and further behind layers of subsidiaries, contractors, sub-contractors, and locked factory gates.

No Logo is a significant work, deserving to be much better known than it is. American consumers -- that is, all of us -- need to reach a much better understanding of how brand management has evolved into culture management, how Starbucks and Nike and Gap and The Body Shop and so many other companies are infiltrating our subconscious and controlling our cultural dialogues. No Logo still serves as an eye-opener for those who have been spending so much time at the mall that they have not yet seen what is going on around them.

Sadly, No Logo is not the most approachable of books for the general populace. It is over-long and over-detailed, bogging down in topics that are probably exciting to radical activists (like billboard jamming) but are sleep-inducing to most readers. Like many people who are involved in activism, Klein sometimes loses the forest for the trees, giving us so much insider detail about causes and people we don't know that we lose interest in, and attention to, her real message. My rating of only four stars, while certainly positive, derives from Klein's tendency to preach too much to the converted and spend too little time educating the as-yet unconverted.

The book is divided into four sections: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, and No Logo. The first two sections, encompassing the first eight chapters, are well worth the price of the book by themselves. Readers will come to a new understanding of how the public spaces around them are being manipulated by mega-corporate messaging, how those corporations hide behind a public face of social consciousness, and how violently they respond when anyone seeks to question their self-proclaimed high moral ground. I would recommend these eight chapters as required reading for every third- or fourth-year high school student in America. Chapter 16, "A Tale of Three Logos," is also a fascinating account of less than admirable behavior on the parts of Nike, Shell, and McDonald's, definitely worth reading.

I can only hope that Ms. Klein will someday revisit her subject matter again, perhaps to publish a more streamlined and updated version that will reach a wider audience. She deserves the audience, and the American public needs to hear her voice. Despite her understandable tendency toward one-sidedness (perhaps necessary in this case to avoid being drowned out by Nike and McDonald's commercials and Starbucks ads), Naomi Klein's No Logo is an important book that all consuming Americans should read. ... Read more

Book Description

The book describes the marketing mix from an international perspective. What distinguishes international marketing is not the activities performed, but the way they are performed. The text discusses, in detail, the determinants of international marketing, and how they differ from those factors influencing domestic marketing. The book discusses three dimensions of international marketing: international marketing, foreign marketing, and multinational marketing. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Internet examples using this textbook in a classroom
A short but good book on International Marketing. Many of the paragraphs in this book have been further enhanced by using web pages in my course at ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Finally a readable book on international marketing
After ploughing through too many dry, long texts its really refreshing to find a book that is not only useful and informative but really easy to read - when you as busy as most of us are it is of paramount importance to get some real value and memorable tips and tricks QUICKLY!

an essential perspective
As a student of marketing at the University of NSW in Sydney where co-author Dr Chris Styles lectures I was fortunate enough to get a first hand insight into the ideas behind this most worthwhile text. I remember asking Dr Styles if his course was one through which I might pass but ultimately take nothing from like so many other "theoretical" subjects. He recommmended I read the book and needless to say, I enrolled after reading the first few chapters. It is always a great challenge to find a book that synthesises well researched argument with those gems of practical advice that make a difference over and over again in 'real life'. Definitely one for the library of perspectives that you will refer to in your head on countless occasions in the future.

The Silk Road to International Marketing
The authors claim that business success comes, in part, from getting the human side right: emotions, relationships etc. When doing business across borders and cultures, whether directly with consumers or with business partners, this becomes all the more important. Those who have lived it (like me), will immediately understand - those who haven't, should read this book before they do.

But the bottom line is that the authors seem to get it. And they explain this with examples, as well as analysis, and also give out some practical tools which should help pretty much anyone involved in international marketing.

The book also has a few novel ways of thinking about issues - whether one precisely agrees with them or not, they are very thought provoking (and in my view) at least generally correct and insightful. The concepts of "social learning" (where the SILK acronym in the title comes from) and of the "impact of biology" on marketing are quite intriguing.

..... leaves you with a new (and better) perspective on international marketing issues.

A great read for a dull flight ! And the people who should really read this book, probably fly a lot. ... Read more

Book Description

This fast-reference short-entry dictionary defines and explains more than 1,500 terms as they relate to foreign markets (European, Asian, South American, and others). Areas covered include stocks and bonds, banks and other financial institutions, foreign currencies, U.S. regulations pertaining to foreign investment, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Like all the others
Barron's is outstanding in making quick reference books. Their dictionaries and their business notes are essential for any student or business person trying to gain the "upper-hand". ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Too thin in content to be useful
One of the few books that I found so far dealing with the exciting world of exporting products through distributors. Rather superficial in cultural content, overly detailed and unrealistically specific in calculating costs and margin-structures. Not really worth the rather high price. ... Read more

Book Description

This innovative ethnography takes a new approach to the study of Philippine sugar. For much of the late colonial history of the Philippines, sugar was its most lucrative export, the biggest employer, and the greatest source of political influence. The so-called "Sugar Barons"--wealthy hacendero planters located mainly in Central Luzon and on the Visayan island of Negros--gained the reputation as kingmakers and became noted for their lavish lifestyles and the quasi-feudal nature of their estates. But Philippine sugar gradually declined into obsolescence; today it is regarded as a "sunset industry" that can barely satisfy domestic demand. While planters continue to think of themselves as wielding considerable power and influence, they are more often seen as vestiges of a bygone era.

Michael Billig examines sugar's decline within both the dynamic context of contemporary Philippine society and the global context of the international sugar market. His multi-sited ethnographic analysis focuses mainly on conflicts among the various elite sectors (planters, millers, traders, commercial buyers, politicians) and concludes that the most salient political, economic, and cultural trend in the Philippines today is the decline of rural, agrarian elite power and the rise of urban industrial, commercial, and financial power. His reflections on his relationships with informants in the midst of the politically charged atmosphere that surrounds the sugar industry provide a candid look at the role of the observer who, try as he might to remain impartial, finds himself swept into the vortex of policy debates and power plays. Barons, Brokers, and Buyers will be of great interest to scholars and students of political economy and economic anthropology and to anyone interested in contemporary Philippine society. ... Read more

Book Description

In the age of globalism, international marketers need to adopt a global perspective if they are to compete successfully. International Marketing: A Global Perspective starts from the premise that any firm - regardless of size - can compete globally. The challenge for todays manager is to identify and seize the opportunities most appropriate to their company. International Marketing: A Global Perspective examines the main issues facing companies that want to compete successfully in the global marketplace. It combines extensive coverage of the relevant theories with a practical approach to the issues. Written in a clear and accessible style, it is divided into several sections covering: assessing a potential market economically, culturally and politically; identifying cultural similarities and differences; deciding which products to market internationally and how to price and promote them; motivating marketing managers to compete globally; building and implementing successful marketing strategies - from making strategic decisions and choosing market positions and entry methods to developing a marketing plan. Using real-world case studies and vignettes centred on contemporary problems and issues, International Marketing: A Global Perspective will be ideal for undergraduates, MBA students and students following executive courses in international marketing or strategy. ... Read more

Book Description

Amazon.com

Jeffrey A. Rosensweig is a capitalist with a heart. In his book, Winning the Global Game, Rosensweig takes a long look at the Third World--Africa and East Asia--and sees both tremendous economic opportunities and vast, untapped human potential. A professor of finance at Emory University in Georgia, Rosensweig makes the case that foreign investment can improve people and businesses. He writes that if managers follow a careful plan for development in fast-growing parts of the world, fewer people will starve, the environment will be spared, and women will enjoy more power and equality.

To show how multinationals can impact the developing world, Rosensweig gives us a taste of what Coca-Cola alone is generating in Africa. "New industries are popping up all around Coca-Cola," he writes. "The company estimates that every one job it creates directly produces another eight to ten jobs as a result of local economy growth." Winning the Global Game is painstakingly researched and organized. It's critical reading for students, community leaders, and businessmen. --Dan Ring ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Excellent reading for the corporate leaders of tomorrow
Rosensweig's book offers a new perspective on the "global game" that corporations will play in the future. It provides an insightful peak behind the curtain of the global markets of the future. The early chapters focus on the traditional triad of industrialized regions. The author provides details of the growth in the markets of Norht America, Western Europe and Japan. He then forecasts population growth for all the regions of the world and opines that the "populous south" will be an emerging economic region that offers great potential. As a corporate executive, I found his perspective extremely refreshing and insightful.

A fresh approach to global economy.
Winning the Global Game Jeffrey A. Rosensweig

The book presents one great discovery, what is well above the average. So it is worth of reading. But if you want to learn how the global economy is structured in next 50 years and if your business depends on global developments the reading is vital.

Rosensweig likes models, what the readers not speaking about students, normally do not like. But he also likes clarity and simple sentences. So what you have in the book, is a lot of figures and scientific accuracy, but all of it in clear and easy to follow form.

The conventional knowledge is that the population of developed nations compared to developing nations is declining. And if you take the standard population and output statistics then you have to agree with it. But if you forget the national statistics and try to look on the world as set of economic regions the result is different. And this is what Rosensweig actually does.

Few years ago US former labor secretary Robert Reich in his book "The Work of Nations" and Japanese management thinker Kenjiti Ohmae in his book "The End of the Nation State: The Rise of National Economies" argued that thinking in the terms of nation states is not valid any more. Economic regions are more important to describe the new world economic development. Now we see Rosenswig to use the concept. His discovery is that if by year 2000 the share of developed regions in the world population is 33,8%, then by year 2010 it will be 44%. Why so? Simple, you just have to ignore the nation states and look on huge emerging countries as China for example just as set of regions. The result is that you see some of regions belonging to almost developed industrial world and some of them to rather poor agricultural world.

Rosenswig also briefly desribes how it is possible for the nations to get out vigorous circle of generating the poverty. But what is especially important he presents the examples of the nations who could do it.

Unbridled Optimism vs. Reality
Time has shown the theories in this book to be flat out wrong. There is a difference between being an optimist and a realist. The optimism in this book ignores reality, implying that third-world countries can participate in the global economy without the years and dollars it will take to build crucial infrastructures, while ignoring the fact that there is competition of other more-advanced countries with the same cheap labor and less inherent risk. There is no hard-core / hard-hitting analysis, just a little number crunching, some remedial graphs, and unfounded theories. The best advice is to save your [money] and not buy this book.

Just plain bad....
I thought this book was stupidly optimistic, at best. Now that there have been a couple of years to test "Dr." Rosensweig's theories, it proves to be as flawed and ignorant as originally thought. Not worth the paper it is printed on.

Insightful!
Jeffrey A. Rosenweig's scholarly study of the global economy is detailed, thought-provoking and rich in source material. Intelligently and clearly written, it is by no means light reading, and wasn't intended to be. Rosensweig covers each corner of the globe, putting such issues as population, development and economic status in perspective. He expertly guides you through complex historical and financial issues and information, and manages to connect all the dots. We at getAbstract recommend this serious book to executives, managers and other thoughtful participants who are interested in present and future global commerce. "Serious" is the approach here, no dilettantes allowed. ... Read more