Foreign-market Books

Le nord est le deuxième livre dans le " trilogy " qui commence par le " château à se retrancher " et les extrémités avec " Rigadoon"... encore, Celine nous dit une histoire fascinante de toutes les personnes formant un train de la mort sans fin après la guerre mondiale 2...

I just decided to take a French course in college, but the fun and the easy way to learn French made me decide to finish all the courses to get a certificate. It really gets you in the francophone world of joy.

This is a review from the Financial Times in London. JRB Copyright 1994 The Financial Times Limited; Financial Times (London) November 2, 1994, Wednesday By CHRISTOPHER HOWE 'OPENING JAPAN'S FINANCIAL MARKETS' By J. Robert Brown Jr. Routledge, Pounds 45, 272 pages ... The Japanese began systematic preparations to penetrate the western economies about 130 years ago. Serious, large-scale efforts to reverse the process date only from the rise of the Japanese trade surplus in the early 1980s. Given the linguistic, psychological, institutional and other barriers between the parties, it is not surprising that the balance of economic advantage in recent years has seemed to be so much in Japan's favour. Furthermore, although the west is beginning to catch up, at least in consciousness of the problem, the problem itself gets more difficult. For whereas the main challenge used to be how to penetrate the markets for goods, there is now increasing concern with the markets for services and with the obstacles to making a success of direct investment in Japan. J. Robert Brown's book is one of the most interesting accounts of these subjects yet to appear. Based on careful study of the literature and on more than 100 detailed interviews, it throws new light not only on the banking sector, but on the wider issue of how public and private sectors can interact in the process of market opening. A small number of western banks had established themselves in Japan before the Pacific War, including the old British Far Eastern banks, and Citibank, representing America. These mainly supported foreign trade and the banking needs of foreign companies in Japan. In the case of Citibank, at least, care was taken not to compete with domestic banks, on whom it relied for advice on local creditworthiness. During the post-war occupation, foreign banks had a new opportunity to re-enter the market and three prominent American Banks did so. Again, however, the foreigners were sidelined rather than integrated into the mainstream of the financial system, focusing on trade finance and short- to medium-term dollar lending. After the occupation, the Japanese government and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) resumed control. No new foreign entrants were allowed in for many years and a highly regulated financial system was established. In this system, Japanese institutions were assigned designated, highly specialized roles and the volume, direction and price of credit flows were each tightly controlled by an MOF with enormous legal and discretionary authority. The only way in which foreigners could be fitted into the picture was to restrict them to specific classes of business, such as foreign exchange, trade and dollar lending. Foreign banks acquiesced in these arrangements through much of the 1960s and early 1970s partly because their niches were exceptionally profitable. So much so, that in the early 1960s Citibank's profits from only four branches were larger than those of Fuji Bank, the largest of the Japanese City Banks. The other reason for acquiescence was that in the Japanese system, since banks rather than security markets were the main source of industrial finance, they were called upon to provide what was in reality a form of risk-sharing, equity finance, and were also expected by the authorities to provide both leadership and, when necessary, bail-outs for large companies. At the time, western bankers, with their short term, balance sheet approach to lending, found these practices unacceptable and hence were unwilling to undertake a lead role in company lending, even had they been encouraged to do so. All this began to collapse after the oil shock of the 1970s and the rise of US-Japan trade frictions in the 1980s. What Brown brings out so clearly is that liberalisation and market opening occurred because it was in the interests of both the western banks and the Japanese City Banks. Both sides wanted new instruments and avenues to funds and both wanted abolition of the old division between banking and securities business. The government had ultimately to agree to change, and all that this entailed, because of its need for large-scale bond financing to cover its budgetary deficit. Brown also shows that, although driven by these underlying factors, the occasion of the big breakthrough was the Reagan-Nakasone summit of 1983, when an embarrassing absence of business allowed the Americans to put the financial services issue on an unexpectedly high-level agenda. In spite of all the change and the formal steps towards liberalisation that have taken place, the longer term results remain disappointing. On the positive side, examples such as Citibank have shown that by taking a long view and making a careful analysis of the market, by a shrewd combination of conformity and innovation, and by good training and personnel policies, it is possible to make a success of business in Japan. On the other hand, the overall profitability and market shares of western banks as a group, remain very low. A fundamental reason for this is that there remain strong traditional elements in both the relationships between the financial system and the MOF, and between the institutions and their customers. Whether the political economy of the post-'Bubble' era will change this, or whether western companies will adapt even more flexibly to Japanese ways, remain fascinating questions for the future.

This book is small but don't let it make you think it isn't complete! Full of up to date places to see and eat, helpful tips ect... and what I love most about it is that it is small enough to slip into a purse or back pocket. Entirely handy and a must have for taking along while you are sight seeing beacuse of its portable size! The last thing you want is to lug a huge book around while you are enjoing the City of Lights!Useful, practical and very easy to use. Flip out maps of Paris on the front and back covers and a small usefull French expression list of the most practical and useful words. Oh, and you can't beat the price!

Franz Fanon addressed very well the racial issues encounted by previously colonized civilizations like the French island of Martinique. But Martinique is just an example. The truth is raw, but it's the truth, and there is still a long way for the freedom of the mind.

Such a charming book for lovers of French books for children! Simple in language and full of color, it teaches children about two friends of different colors who when they hug become the blended color, thus teaching about the color wheel as well as perhaps a deeper lesson about children of mixed heritage.

My friend's 5 year old boy loves this book and has quickly learned the colors and a few other French words after just a few readings. He insists that I pause at those words so that he can say them! He is also starting to translate some of the phrases on his own. Highly recommended! If only Amazon had the book in stock.

A horrible horrible tragedy and amazingly well written. Another must read for 17th century french literature!

This is an eminently readable, and a persuasive account of the impact that military-strategic assessments have on foreign economic policies. The research seems carefully done, both from primary and secondary documents, and the author gives due consideration to alternative explanations. This is the only book I have seen that adequately describes the links between strategy and foreign economic policies with the broad historical sweep that this book has. It was particularly interesting in terms of the forces that shape foreign economic policies. For these reasons this book is a "must read" for anyone interested in the grand strategic role that foreign economic policies play.

Alright, what can you say about a Spanish-English dictionary? Well... actually a lot. I have had this dictionary for a long time, and it fits my needs perfectly.

A translation dictionary can suffer from one of two problems which make it less useful; too many entries or not enough. With too many entries it is too slow to look up entries, with too few you may not find the word you're looking for. Not unlike the baby bear's stuff from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", this dictionary is just right. It's small profile makes the "Random House Essential Spanish Dictionary" easy to carry, which is a godsend for a student carrying numerous texts, and the number of entries has yet to be inadequate.

There are more complete Spanish-English dictionaries out there, however, for the casual student, traveler or businessperson this is a perfect fit.

In this book, Susan Strange (with John Stopford)develops the relational power model that she introduces in "States and Markets". The book introduces the firm as a player in diplomacy and argues that transnational corporation can exercise the type of relational power that the state exercises.
The book is a foundation to Strange's "The Retreat of the State" and a read of all three books, pluse Roger Tooze's anthology of Strange's work "States and Authorities" provides an excellent introduction to International Political Economy as seen from a distinctly European perspective and with the clarity (and quirkiness) provided by the late Susan Strange.