Export-management Books

This book is well written and indicates that the author did lots of research and is really interested in our global society. Very well written and stories of CEO's are given in entertaining manner. Very helpful to business people interested in developing global contacts.

Alvy: "You're, like, New York Jewish Left-Wing Liberal Intellectual Central Park West Brandeis University ... the Socialist Summer Camps and the father with the Ben Shahn drawings, right? And you really, you know, strike-oriented kind of - uh, stop me before I make a complete imbecile of myself."

Allison: "No, that was wonderful. I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype."

[Annie Hall, 1977]

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Everyone talks about globalization, but few do anything about it. As the world contracts, many once-arrogant executives find themselves humbled by their ignorance of the manners, modes, and mores of other nations and cultures. At the same time, accelerated communication has built self-confidence among those leaders who might once have aped the methods of Western business superpowers. Americans, British, French, and a host of the traditionally smug are discovering that they can't just talk at their counterparts to the east and south. They need to understand them, speak their language (figuratively and literally), and learn how to make the borderless economy work.

So argues Robert Rosen and his colleagues in Global Literacies. Using a 1,000-person survey, combined with interviews with 75 CEOs in 28 countries, the authors have developed a model of twenty behaviors and roles for the twenty-first century leader. These competencies - "Chaos Navigator", "authentic flexibility", "Respectful Modernizer", etc. - are here elucidated by example, using extended interview excerpts and admiring descriptions of leaders chosen as competency archetypes. It's a reasonable approach, particularly when complemented by capsule summaries of their leaders' countries and their cultures. If your knowledge of world history, geopolitics, and comparative religions is limited, and if you don't have a World Fact Book near at hand, then you'll find convenient answers in these reports.

But every reporter wants to write editorials, and it's in the oration and polemics that Global Literacies stumbles. As a business topic, literacy is not lite and racy, so the authors try to spice up their book with fortune-cookie truisms....

"Leaders are people, too."

Global Literacies is clearly the work of a motivational speaker, full of sound bites and fury. It also tends towards proof by sweeping assertion. Discussing China's $30 billion Ping An Insurance, for example, the authors state that "the secret of [its] success is its ability to keep one foot in traditional Chinese culture and one foot in the world, constantly learning and modernizing Chinese culture." This may be true, but how could it be proved? How does one measure "learning and modernizing" as a competitive advantage? Must great leaders always have strong cultural roots?

How you respond to Global Literacies will depend in part on where you stand in the classic argument of nature vs. nurture. By overemphasizing "national traits" that predetermine behavior, Rosen and his colleagues have fallen into the classic trap of cultural stereotyping. They argue for example that "we need to combine the egalitarian nature of the Dutch, the change orientation of Americans, the achievement orientation of the Overseas Chinese, and the humility of the Scandinavians." All Scandinavians? Aren't there any supercilious Swedes out there?...

Ultimately Global Literacies informs more than it persuades. Some segments are merely unfortunate; Douglas Ivester, held up as the epitome of communication and "urgent listening", has since been fired as CEO of Coca-Cola for a series of gaffes and mishandled controversies. And it is true that the interweaving of interviews and facts can be instructive, even enlightening. But eventually you begin to wonder whether these cultural depictions are portraits or cartoons. If you're going to travel around the world in 400 pages, be warned that travel may narrow the mind.

I happened upon this book and I'm so glad I did! It is a well-written, easy-reference global tool--- much more than just another business book for the shelf. The first-hand stories, study data and format makes it a keeper. Although the study was relatively small, it was globally broad and big enough, with its weighty contributors, to give any leader a good dose of global nourishment to help you forge your own new path. What I like about it most is the straightforward presentation that is free of gobbledegook, so common to many business books. Many leaders across geographies, industries and sectors are trying to find their bearings in the marketplaces, workplaces and communities of the world at this turbulant time of opportunity. This book not only provides stimulating information, but it helps one remember that the solutions we seek are not so complicated. No big surprises. Instead, these times just ask little more of us. Working across cultures and geographies ultimately means working with a new consciousness about others---learning from and thinking more about each other --- and realizing that it is by putting our differences to work that we will open the way for new levels of innovation and a world that benefits all. The book serves as a reminder of how much you already know as a leader that can now be applied to a new set of global problems---as well as, how much you need to learn. I plan to share it with my customers and fellow leaders of change. Thank you for this work!

This book fails on its ambitious agenda of surveying and mapping out the new landscape the authors refer to as "global literacies", and delivers little at the end.

Boasting a "landmark study of CEOs from 28 countries" on its cover, the book contains less than 10 survey questions from the study, all of which are freebies which offer no additional insight to the quest at hand. For example, one survey question asks, "do your cultural roots influence your thinking?" The question is so poorly designed from a research point of view, the answer doesn't really matter.

The rest of whatever study of CEOs the authors compiled was reduced to regurgitation of current buzz words, "understanding and valuing yourself", "engaging and challenging others", "focusing and mobilizing your organization", "valuing and leveraging cultural differences".

The remaining pages are filled with trivia-type facts on who's who around the world, such as a generic list of major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

At the end, you should expect to get out of this book what R.R. got out of his visiting 30 countries over a two-year period, traveling 250,000 miles, as he explained to the readers in the intro. That's nearly 350 miles of traveling a day, everyday of the year, and less than a month for every country. You tell me how much cultural immersion and interaction a person can experience out of it.

A close reading of this book reveals an impressive insight in the subject matter and an elegant and crisp style of presentation. I found the book informative, deftly written and useful. It is a must read book for any person wishing to come to some understanding on the gloal economy, for any person engaged in commerce, and for any person who is curious about global cultures.

Offers an evaluation of 14 Asian countries in terms of each one's potential role in the global strategies of multinational companies, from both a market and production or supply vantage point. The author examines the extent that strategy must be adapted to each nation and how each is strategically used by companies. It also provides a framework for developing regional and country strategies. Filled with information and insight. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates and HRconsultant.com InfoCenter.

Asian Financial Crisis is a drama for major multimational group, this book emphsizes new point for observation in asian area. After F.C., all of companies are rethinking regional stratigics and the exactive roles each country in this region. The collection of more 14 scholars which have researched in different asian county for long time. Offering some foundimental ideas could be helpful.

The Asian crisis has changed much and this book does not address issues or circumstances that concern managers or researchers today.

This is at best a choppy book, written by various people on their perceptions of Asian business. I think it does little to explain how Asian businesses actually operate -- some it is PR, some of it hype and some just regurgitation from mewspapers, etc. These are some of the same types of people so picked on by the IMF now for failing to inform them how business actually functioned in Asia! The most telling evidence - although written just prior to the onslaught of the Asian crisis, none of the "experts" foresaw it or its effects on competitive business operations in Asia. It is even less useful now. Marginal at best.

The book is below average. However, I understand that everyone needs to make a buck--it's all politics !
The Author is such an ediot to the extent that he/she or whatever ediot editors helping them to issue this book, are saying that the Israelies won the war in October 1973; while that it is a fact that the egyptian army had them surrounded and was about 40 miles of their capital ready to make them a history,if it wasn't for the U.S stepping in; Israel would have been a history !
I wonder how much did the israely government paid you stupid to publish such lies ? I have no respect for you biast !

I had this book for one of my classes at my University this semester, and although the content of the book is concise and updated, nonetheless the authors rely too much on self-reference. The book is written too much from a "USA is superior" perspective. I also found some errors such as translations from other languages that were completely off. If you have to get this book for Intl. Business it is overall a good book, but if you can get a better one, do so.

I took a course at my university requiring this book. What I found most useful is the numerous updated examples and cases that the author provided. In addition, the discussion is objective and thought-provoking.

Ordered this book from Littletext.com as a new hard cover and recieved a softcover international addition. I wouldn't mind using international version since there is hardly any difference, but don't bait and switch on me I don't like it. I'd buy from someone else if the price was within a couple bucks. Got my book not from Chicago as advertised, but Thailand. However it was delivered in no time.

I've used this book for a number of years with managers from different countries as well as with college students in China. My only complaint is that the publisher has not updated the material. For example, there's no mention of the Internet or use of email for business communications. However, the text, cases, activities, vocabulary, etc. provide the ESL teacher with a great foundation that can easily be built on. Suitable for a wide range of English language abilities but geared toward intermediate students. This remains the most effective business-culture text I've been able to find.

This series of case studies is an excellent template for upper intermediate and higher ESL students interested in discussing cultural issues in a business context. I used this in Japan for a few years. The book is well suited for a jigsaw approach by initially dividing the class in 2, then pairing students for an information exchange before a round table discussion. The vocabulary is challenging at that level, and there are additional word form exercises at the end of each unit. There's lots of room for teachers and students to build on the themes with personal anecdotes, and for extensions into vocabulary and pronunciation. Students get lots of opportunity to participate, analyse, and give opinions, and use the target vocabulary - and there's always an opportunity to compare the topic cultures with the local culture. This is a great course book for an introduction to Business cultural issues for ESL students.

Yes, I should have read the publisher's review properly... This book is for low-medium level students of English, and offers some useful angles for learning. However, in my opinion it is of little help for people who have to DO business across cultures. If the reader is struggling with English to the extent that they would find this book relevant to their needs, then they are likely to be out of a job if using that language in the workplace.

As an ESL text it may have uses in the hands of a good teacher (because the material is superficial). If your or your students actually need to LEARN something about doing business outside your home country, look elsewhere.

When I saw the authors were the authors of "Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands" I immediately bought this book. It was disappointing, because the authors have shown they can write good books.

The biggest problem is with keeping current. (The authors allude to this issue in their preface.) This book was based on 1999 material and published in 2001. There's a lot of material that has very limited shelf-life, such as a list of government officials in Italy. They publish a list of national holidays for each country, listing both date and day of the week. (Where was their editor?) Obviously that information is only good for one particular year.

Treatment is superficial in many aspects. Under "currency" they only state the name of the currency, with no reference to pegging or exchange rate volatility. Under "Intellectual Property Rights" they discuss the treaties the country has signed. You would never learn there is an intellectual property issue in China from reading this book, because China has signed all pertinent treaties.

Their treatment of cultural issues is not structured. They list five cultural tips per country. These tend to focus on manners issues such as being (or not being) on time. I'm more attune to the method that Geert Hofstede uses in his books where he defines a cultural trait, discusses its implications, and then states how strong that cultural trait is in the country. For example, Hofstede introduces "power distance" as a measure of hierarchy and respect for authority. He then discusses implications for the decision making and negotiation processes. Finally, he gives the scores for each country, leaving the reader to draw conclusions. The authors of this book do discuss one cultural trait for all countries, defined as "Time." To them it means attitudes toward promptness. There is no discussion of the inverse relationship between attention to promptness and flexibility in scheduling, which is a hugely important issue in buying or selling.

Finally, and this is a personal issue because I am a purchasing consultant and educator, there is a heavy emphasis on selling in other countries but almost no attention to buying there. They could have given GSP-status for imports into the US, for example.

I recommend spending your money elswhere. Buy "Kiss, Bow" to learn about manners issues. Get "Culturegrams" to get annually updated information on history and geography. If you really want to study a country it will take more depth and more current material than this book carries.

Here is the best single-source I have come across thus far which provides information about trade opportunities, tariffs, risk factors, negotiating styles, investment climate, protocol, and cultural tips. (I refer to the revised and expanded version.) The authors discuss 40 countries (in alphabetical order, from Argentina to Venezuela), then provide five appendices: Contracts and Websites, Documents Used in International Trade, Abbreviations of International Organizations, Corruption & Bribery Index, and Conversion Factors. I am now convinced that almost every company throughout the world will eventually become involved, directly or indirectly, with e-business. Here is a comprehensive guide which contains invaluable information and hard-headed recommendations based on real-world experience. Other volumes are now available which provide more information about a single county (eg Stuttard's superb The New Silk Road whose subject is China) but none, to my knowledge, which is comparable in terms of global coverage.

This book provides valuable information on the social, political, economic and marketing aspects of the 40 major trading partners (countries) of the United States. It rates the credit worthiness of each country based upon its trade and monetary policies, climate for foreign investment, import duties and taxes, political climate, and attitude towards protection of intellectual property rights. It does an excellent job of addressing the cultural aspects of doing business abroad. Our staff uses it often as a resource for conducting international market research and working with consulting clients. Recommended for purchase by John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute

I've used this simulation for several years. You really have to dig into it to fully understand how it works and there are some warts in the game. The trip is worthwhile, however, in terms of student learning of diverse topics from financial accounting to logistics. Playing the game takes a lot effort out of the instructor - but I think it is worth it in the end.

I must disagree with the other reviewer! I use this simulation in my class and it works very well. However, it isn't simple and the base documentation isn't the best. The software is quite robust. The complexity of the simulation means this isn't just a game in which you can casually drop in some figures and see what happens - each team needs to spend at least 8 hours preparing and then about 2 hours deciding each set of moves! The reward is in simulation that faithfully reproduces and simplifies competitive and global forces.

NOTE - this software is totally useless to you unless it is offered as part of a class. You need at lest three teams AND the special administrator software only available to teaching professionals.

As a project in one of my MBA classes, we had to make 8 decisions in this "simulation" game. Over the semester, I have grown to hate the game and the book. The biggest problem with the game is that it is too rigid and does not mirror real life. The problem with the book itself is that it does not contain any information to assist you in making decision. There are also some misprints in the book as well. Avoid this book if you can, and if you can't, I wish you the best of luck!

This book gives us an insight of key players behind some of the great successes of Asia's mega massive Billionaires Club

This book is okay as an introduction but is really just a list of people, some of whom couldn't possibly be as wealthy as the author suggests. The book is in the 'gee whiz' genre - it's Asia, so therefore it's exciting but also beyond serious analysis. There are better books on the market that deal with Asian business in a thorough and less excitable way.

This is a good reference book if you go to South Korea for business or do business with Koreans in your own country.If you would like a book with more information and references, than I would recommend the book Korean Etiquette & Ethics in Business by Boye Lafayette De Mente. This book goes indepth with the Korean national character, its tradition and the personal coonnections that are essential to Koreans.

Extremely thin PAMPLET, NOT the detailed book you would expect. Interesting reading, but you can find everything it has to say on the net with a simple search. Don't waste your money.

Outrage over shifting of American jobs to Mexico (and others). Effective solutions are thin for number of chapters on subject. Roll back NAFTA? Re- write NAFTA?

The book is easy to read and seems to exude a great political, commonsense vision. At times, Lou Dobbs sounds more like a member of the "red team" and not the conservative that he has been popularly famed. His book has some, good, solid points though others are not as strong as there could be challenges in application of such legislations and repercusions. Nonetheless, the book is a good tool of education for all!

Other excellent books for reading: Fluctuating Life

Quest for a Dream: A Life Committed to Progress

Let's Talk Africa and More

How come I don't see anyone without a job? Dont waste your money buying this useless book. Watch a movie in the theaters instead.

Dobbs demonstrates a total waste of a Harvard education. Never says anything difinitive -- just political ranting, same as the TV show.

This subject is getting a lot of ranting from people on the outskirts who know squat. Manufacturing is one thing, but IT is where the real action is. I work in IT outsourcing and I have seen both sides, while so many are talking from 3rd hand knowledge. Number 1 issue is that these imported visa techies are more sinned against then sinning. The imported worker isn't fully paid, gets only a paltry salary, the winner in the game, the true elite, are mddlemen ....It's all the vendor/employers who make the money, and sometimes there are so many layers of them, they don't even make much; and, they are rarely US corporate..... Oddly enough, most of them are immigrants themselves. Some immigrant guy gets a stable of visa guys with desireable skills (e.g., SAP) and vends them to other vendors, perhaps more than to actual US companies (you have to be a "preferred vendor" to get in on the action with the largest US Companies). Who knows what the poor visa guy actually gets, while the large US companies who seek to buy this contingent H1 visa labor don't get much of a bargin either. Yeah, they try to get competition for the sake of lower rates, but they also TRY to squeeze from the top and demand the TOP Tier "preferred" vendors send them with visa techies with such and such skills for a ceiling of $X; however, there are STILL market forces, and these middle level vendor/employers know the rates and sometimes the preferred vedor above them cannot not find or provide someone when any of the layers cannot make at least a minimal amount on the rate. Consequently, the rates creep up, and end up not that far behind the going rate. I have seen some Corporations/Companies have to re-process their original req with higher salaries cause they need someone badly, and eventully they go to the 2nd tier vendors. Ultimately while they may pay slightly less on the contract than for a full time guy, and slightly less than a US guy, it's not that much less, only a little, while the vendor middle-men gets his bucks (and more and more of them pop up every day). These vendor/employers make their bucks either on specific skills (lake SAP, .NET) or on volume, like parasites. Meanwhile US Companies cannot be bothered with hiring entry level. They need someone to "hit the ground running." The imported guys are just beyond entry level, having already got that back home from the same US companies overseas OR from other foreign companies or domestic companies over there. So, yeah, they are up and running faster than an entry level guy. The real tragedy is that our US IT grads have so few entry level jobs available. And the big bonanza, right now (jobs paying over $100k) is in managerial IT. The ones who have a leg up on those are the visa guys who tough it out and survive to get that magic Green Card. Having survived all the levels, they are often the best candidates for these well paid positions, and compete with native born US citizens who survived the tech bust. However, understandably, these GC guys want a competitive salary with their American counterparts. When the best candidates for these jobs are Green Cards, the US grads who never got the entry level job originally, lose out once again. Meanwhile, in places like India, IT is booming, and they badly need midlevel managers, so who will go? How many Americans are ready to uproot and learn Hindi? There is an r2i movement (r2i==return to India).... Probably all those Green Card guys who earned their stripes here, will go back, and again the US IT departments will have to go to another 3rd world country, and start the whole mess all over. Meanwhile, the rest of us low paid flunkies are barely making ends meet, work long hours, and get NO health benefits.

This book is another attempt to capitalize on a name brand (Porter; Harvard) as opposed to providing a substantive, insightful take on what is happening in Japan and what needs to be done in order to correct certain problems in the Japanese economy. It also gives the false impression that Japan is somehow a pre-mature version of the US. Porter is not a Japan expert and I would be very careful, as an American/foreigner, to not to take books on Japan by foreigners who have never lived their or speak the language too seriously. The book is not about Japan, it is a generalized theoretical black box solution to a much more complex problem in which one needs to understand a lot more than just management theory. Japanese management is much more complex and, unlike in the US where a monkey can be trained to fire people, Japanese managers have many more issues to deal with. People tend to forget the fact that Japanese managers have done a much better job (though moving more slowly) at reducing the negative impact of restructuring. Its more difficult to keep a company going and competitive when its against the law to fire people than if you could fire people on the spot-- US management "expertise" is incredibly over-rated the recent market correction shows the incredible amount of resources that are wasted by corporate America on such things as management consulting. Those foreigners who have written on Japan's economy and financial markets who have the language down (speaking; reading) and have been in-country for an extended period of time as expats can provide a very interesting and highly useful perspective for those looking from the outside in a way most Japanese cannot (and will not). Being a "senior advisor" to a few large Japanese companies does not qualify someone to write on this topic.

I work for a Japanese company that is mentioned in this book and the book is a dead on diagnosis of how Japanese companies are managed. For anyone familiar with the current Japanese economy (which is in a huge depression) there are some major problems with how the Japanese economy operates. There is nothing inherently genius about the solution that Porter offers, which is simply a call for a true free market system in Japan; free of tariffs, trade barriers, cartels, and collusion. However, if you work for a Japanese company I strongly suggest buying this book to understand why your company is managed the way it is.

...

Michael Porter become the celebrity in the field of business strategy with his two books, ¡®Competitive Advantage¡¯, ¡®Competitive Strategy¡¯. Takeuchi and Sakakibara secured their name in organizational learning school with their book, ¡®The Knowledge-Creating Company.¡¯ With this book, ¡®the word, ¡®knowledge creation¡¯ has been widely circulated within business schools.
This book poses the question, ¡®Why does Japan stumble?¡¯ it¡¯s the single most popular subject in Japanese studies. Numerous books come to mind on that issue. The approach this book takes is, nonetheless, unique. While others have tackled it in the view of macroeconomics or political economy, authors of this book take the view of microeconomics, or more precisely business strategy. They argue that more-than-decade-long deflation and liquidity trap are not the fundamental problem, but just symptoms. The underlying problem must be hunted for elsewhere: the eroded competitive advantage of Japanese companies. There has been warning signs since 1980s well before bubble bursting:
1. Since 1980s, no new internationally competitive industry has emerged.
2. The profitability, or capital productivity has long been low. Export share has been achieved and maintained partly by sacrificing returns to capital.
3. Japan¡¯s share of world exports peaked in 1986 (10%). But it has fallen since then to below 8%.
Bubble and subsequent financial meltdown certainly is serious trouble. But above reveals much deeper crisis: the loss of competitiveness.
Michael Porter maintains that firms initially gain competitive advantage by altering the basis of competition. They won not just by recognizing new market, or technologies but by moving aggressively to exploit the,. A firm¡¯s local rivalry in home nation plays a critical role in shaping manager¡¯s perceptions about the opportunities that can be exploited. Firms that survive vigorous local competition are often more efficient and innovative. In the 1970s and 80s, Japan set the world standard for operational effectiveness, that is, for improving quality and lowering cost: TQM, JIT system, lean production, cycle time reduction. Japanese companies pushed the productivity frontier well beyond the capabilities of many Western companies. Japanese companies¡¯ competitive advantage was obtained through cut-throat local competition. But starting in the mid- and late 1980s, the gap between Japanese and Western companies began to narrow through so-called restructuring or reengineering. Now Japan¡¯s source of competitiveness has been eroded away. As a result, international competition has ever more vigorously intensified not in the behalf of Japan. Worse, what drove Japan to be competitive now serve as drag on it. Fierce local rivalry degrade into competitive convergence. It means that all the competitors in an industry compete on the same dimension. As rivals imitate one another¡¯s improvements in quality, cycle time, or supplier partnerships, competition becomes a series of unwinnable races down identical paths. This occurs because Japanese firms believe that by mimicking competitors¡¯ technologies and products, they can avoid being in a weak positioning in the market. Because, as a result of mutual benchmarking, Japanese companies cannot but think of competition only in terms of operational effectiveness for their product lineup converges, the have made it almost impossible to be enduringly successful. The more benchmarking, the more they look alike. To avoid such a stalemate, they try to diversify product lineup. But it inflames only to another round of convergence. This kind of local rivalry has finally led to excess costs to over-differentiation for products as well as their components. Such costs have become too high, thus leading to a considerable waste of resources. When they set the best practices, such a cost could be dissipated at the expense of Western competitor¡¯s market share. But now such an advantage rarely exists, if any. Competitive convergence leads to the lack of focus. The lack of focus results in no obvious competitive advantage for they are over-diversified. Authors recommend to compete on strategy: Operational effectiveness is just one of two ways a company pursues superior performance. The other is through strategy, or competing on the basis of a unique positioning involving a distinctive product of service offering. The essence of strategy is to perform differently from rivals. It¡¯s choosing not to do something. They succumb to the temptation to chase easy growth by adding popular features and taking on product lines or services that do not fit their strategy. Or they target new customers to whom the company offers noting unique. But attempting to compete in several ways at once creates confusion and undermines organizational motivation and focus. Profits fall, so more revenue is seen as the answer. In sum, authors argues that the problem of Japan is more in mind-set than in unchangeable circumstances in Japan.

Michael Porter is Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on competition and strategic management; Hirotaka Takeuchi is Professor and Dean of the new Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Japan; and Mariko Sakakibara is Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"This book aims first and foremost to offer a theory that can explain and interpret Japan's postware economic trajectory." This 'theory' follows a mostly academical and economical research method. In Chapter 1 the authors first discuss Japan's economical history, whereby the authors use extensive graphs, figures and tables to prove their point: "Japan's actual competitive performance, then, has been mixed for decades." Expanding on their discussion on the economical history, the authors challenge the Japanese government model. "At the core of the Japanese government model is a particular conception of the process of economic development and the bases of competitiveness. It embodies an implicit aversion to certain forms of competition and an effort to channel competition in various ways." This model goes back to the early post-World War II period, when "the nation was in shambles". There is an 12 developmental policies list which form the building blocks of the Japanese governmental model. The authors discuss the impact of these policies on Japan's successes and failures.

In Chapter 3, the authors discuss Japan's unique management model. "The model stresses attributes such as teamwork, a long time horizon, and dedication to continuous quality improvement, all of which remain important Japanese strengths. But it has also encouraged conformity and a conception of competition that is dangerously incomplete." Again, the authors introduce a list of policies which are typical for the Japanese corporate model. The authors' biggest complaint is that most Japanese companies do not have a strategy, they tend to compete on operational effectiveness. (For more see Porter's 1996-article 'What is Strategy?')

In Chapter 4 the authors try to explain Japanese competitiveness. This model for competitiveness follows the universal model: "vigorous competition in a supportive business environment, free of government direction, is the only path to economic vitality." Most of this chapter is directly taken from Porter's 1990-book 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations', discussing various industries (both successful and unsuccessful).

In Chapter 5, 6, and 7 the authors aim to come up with an answer to move Japan forward. The authors discuss the requirements for both government and companies. "What is needed is nothing short of a new economic strategy, one that builds on the true bases of Japan's past success, recognizes the differences between the country's rebuilding challenges and its present circumstances, and addresses the realities of modern global competition." So can Japan compete? The authors believe it can. "Japan has a history of competing successfully at the highest level and rapidly advancing national productivity, when competition was allowed to proceed unfettered. ... Japan can compete. To do so, however, it will require the systematic changes in both business and government we have described. ... As it has shown in earlier periods of transition, if mind-sets change, Japan has the capacty to move rapidly."

Yes, I do understand the disappointment of some of the other readers. In line with Michael Porter's 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations' (1990) this book is more about governmental issues than the activities within companies as in Porter's bestsellers 'Competitive Strategy' (1980) and 'Competitive Advantage' (1985). In their search for their answer to the title-question (Can Japan Compete?) the authors use an mostly academical and economical approach, which can be daunting to some readers. The book is mostly aimed at Japanese multinationals, economists, and governmental officials, and includes some strong critical comments toward their policies.

The title 'Can Japan Compete' raised my hopes of finding some thought provoking insightful debates in pages to come. However, most of the solution that Porter suggests are basic rules of a capitalist economy.

Porter, again, suggests solutions without keeping in mind the 'contexts'. 50 years after the defeat in war, today, Japan has companies that compete globally, its people living a high standard of living. Compare the rate of this 50 years of development with any other country's development and you find Japan a clear winner. And Porter just writes them off!

Every country has unique siuation (its context) thus, the exsisting economic structure in Japan is the product of its unique situation. Poter wants to turn blind eye to this.