Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Business strategy for inexorable globalization
  • Very clear vision
  • yet another mediocre business book on globalism
  • A sharp, narrow focus on a few elements of strategy
  • Global Business Economics 101 for Freshmen
Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
Jane Fraser , Lowell L. Bryan , and Wilhelm Rall
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 087584846X

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In Race for the World, consultants with McKinsey & Co. look at the vast changes in the world's economy that are altering the way almost everyone does business. The authors believe that geographic barriers to business will virtually disappear over the next 30 years and that the implications for companies could be devastating--or incredibly rewarding. "Over time, the only class that matters will be world class," write Lowell Bryan, Jane Fraser, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Wilhelm Rall. "All others will be forced to restructure or go out of business."

The authors see world economic integration spurred on by new access to capital markets, advances in computing and communication technologies, and a rapid decline in government influence. While some companies, such as Cisco, Yahoo!, General Electric, and Enron, should reap tremendous benefits, most are moving too slowly, according to the consultants. The book provides many strategies for success in the next millennium and includes chapters on the importance of market capitalizations, for example, and building "superior intangibles--intellectual property, talent, brands and networks." Race for the World is a stimulating read for managers, investors, and others interested in the future of business. --Dan Ring

Book Description

Informed by the findings of McKinsey & Company's extensive investigation of the problems and practices at globalizing firms, Race for the World contends that the rewards of building a great global firm at this moment in time are extraordinary. Examples of early winners in the global game, including powerhouses such as Coca-Cola, Citibank, and Nestle, reveal how the truly distinctive players utilize their intangible assets to think and act differently from the multinational models of old. The authors explain how firms can drive their transition from national to global markets by pursuing and capturing entire portfolios of global opportunities while there's still time. Race for the World provides managers and strategists with a coherent set of prescriptions and recommendations for linking the new roles of capital, brands, talent, and knowledge into an actionable game plan for leading the charge in the new global economic arena.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Business strategy for inexorable globalization.......2003-09-14

Even with the benefit of hindsight, it may not fundamentally matter how much of this book written in 1999 by four McKinsey consultants may seem overtaken by the facts of the post-Internet bubble of the late 1990s. This includes the collapse of Enron, a major McKinsey client which is nonetheless cited in this book as an agile player and adaptator to the inexorbale challenge of globalization which is at the heart of this book. It would be premature for business strategists or policy makers to wholly dismiss this book on account of such obvious errors of judgment.

The basic framework within which this book views the future is shared by similar analyses done by other organizations. Because world trade has tended to grow faster than world economic output, the share of world output produced and consumed in global markets will inevitably grow rapidly - accordingly to this book, from about one-fifth of global output in the late 1990s to four-fifths by 2030. Within this time frame, total global ouptut will also grow, from $28 trillion in 1997 to $91 trillion in 2027. Whence the opportunities for a susbtantial reshaping of the competitive space for global corporations.

What matters is that the fundamental message of this book (which is not by itself novel) is unchanged by the contemporary drivers of competitiveness for national economies and corporations: a dramatic lowering of so-called interaction costs and of barriers in product and factor markets continues to erode the advanatges of geographic incumbents in the business world, fostering the creation of cross-geographic specialists and consolidation of traditional integrators.
Drawing substantially from Mckinsey's own research and data gathered from its Fortune 500 clientele, as well as insights from unconventional non-business sources such as Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, And Steel, the book advises global corporate leaders on how to reshape their firms and create global talent teams. The book is, not surprisingly - given the audience of the book - silent on what policy implications there are for countries which are also trying to adapt to these realities, other than the obvious imperative to open their national economies to world-class suppliers of tangible and intangible capital. There remains an important policy agenda to explore if one takes the fundamental propositions of this book seriously.

5 out of 5 stars Very clear vision.......2001-09-06

I appreciated very much the clear analisys of the world economic trends. It suggests you a way, a light to manage business in a world of dynamic transition and complexity.
It is a very useful tool to understand what is happening in the global market and especially if you work in a global company like me.

2 out of 5 stars yet another mediocre business book on globalism.......2001-04-19

Business books tend to gravitate toward one of two poles: the must-reads - those that involve fundamental rethinking of traditional business models - and the no-reads. Regardless of whether a must-read turns out to be right, this category of book establishes a vocabulary and logic of action that people will discuss and attempt to implement for years to come, as did "The Fifth Discipline" and "Reengineering the Corporation." In contrast, the no-read books, which are far too numerous to count, serve principally as resume builders or as crude promotional plugs for consulting firms. As cynical public relations gestures, the no-reads are entirely derivative, repackaging someone else's ideas while implying that you need to hire the authors to gain deeper insights. Indeed, what they have to offer can be summarised easily on the book flap, beyond which only captive student audiences or gullible clients would ever venture.

"Race for the World," another in the series of books by McKinsey & Co. consultants on how to operate in the global economy, straddles the great grey area in between these two poles. The book starts off with a strong analysis of the "transition" economy, in which geographic barriers are rapidly falling before the globalist wave: world's financial markets converging and digital technologies are lowering communication costs; national governments are "under market pressure" to remove the old legal and regulatory barriers to global competition; consumers are gaining unprecedented power, both to find the best prices through some convenient dot.com company and to vote via their investment dollars. This ongoing race (or "midgame") will determine which corporations can position themselves to become the "shapers" of the next century.

The midgame, the authors assert, offers extraordinary, though rapidly vanishing, opportunities around which to build new corporate strategies. With their new-found access to foreign markets, corporations can create "virtuous cycles of geographic expansion," simultaneously increasing their scale of operation, lowering their costs, and using new incoming profits to continue to invest elsewhere. Finally, by setting up their own networks of information, corporations can take advantage of cross-arbitrage opportunities, that is, buy goods and services from whatever country offers them cheapest.

So far so good. While none of this is particularly new or original, it is in the formulation of strategies that the book will stand or fall. According to the authors, global firms must invest in a variety of intangible capital, including intellectual property, talented managers, networks of able partners, and brand image. If a corporation can integrate these intangible assets into a system that operates as of a piece, the authors maintain, then it will have established "a compelling global value proposition": while single elements in the system may be replicable, imitating it as a whole is far more difficult for competitors. Furthermore, the authors argue, global firms should "control, [though] not own" the value chain, which represents a reversal from the practices once praised in large, vertically integrated firms. Sensible advice.

Unfortunately, at this point the authors cross the line that separates lack of originality from banality. Firms must, the authors solemnly inform us, approach potential deals with the appropriate risk assessment techniques, many of which were developed for investment bankers. These techniques include: 1) "disaggregating" the many risks involved in large business decisions, that is, breaking them down to examine who bears what risks and for what, etc.; 2) focusing on those risks for which the firm enjoys "familiarity advantages"; 3) portfolio theory, i.e. diversification spreads risks; 4) options theory, or the ability to acquire a firm at a specified date in the future for a known price. These techniques, the authors conclude, will allow firms to "overcom[e] confusion (lack of necessary knowledge), complexity (unknown interdependencies), and uncertainty (unknowable future events)." While top executives are perhaps too busy to reflect on these strategies systematically, it is difficult to imagine that they haven't thought about these things already.

However, there are deeper flaws at the core of the book. For starters, the seductive rhetoric of globalism is accepted as a given and fails to realistically anticipate any other contingencies, which is a disservice to business readers. The authors' insistence on proper risk analysis techniques cannot capture these complexities. Instead, the authors treat us to a simple extrapolation of current economic conditions. It remains unclear whether the current boom represents a structural trend (a "new economy") or another speculative financial bubble. Confusing the two can lead to terrible mistakes. Unfortunately, though its purpose is to devise better strategies for managers overwhelmed by global change, "Race for the Future" offers no useful guidance in this regard.

Even worse, evidence that contradicts their vision is ignored. The authors naively assume that globalisation is an unalloyed good, that consumers will prefer cheaper, more uniform goods to traditional indigenous varieties.

Many of these shortcomings can be explained by the poorly hidden agenda of the book. How, one wonders, could four intelligent co-authors ever agree on a detailed analytic framework? The answer is simple: the book is part of the McKinsey & Co. publicity machine. It promotes a company methodology, the conclusions of which come straight from McKinsey "research," a kind of parallel universe of jargon, anecdotes, and fierce internal competition for attention between young "associates" fresh out of university. I suspect that, under the steady hand of good ghost writers, "Race for the World" was cobbled together from disparate articles from the McKinsey Quarterly with over-confidence and little critical regard. As a result, the book's "authors," imbued with the company's mystique, fail to recognise the mediocrity of their ideas and advice.

Nonetheless, "Race for the World" is no no-read. As long as the reader is aware of its limitations, it offers a solid introduction to gung-ho globalism. While the book contains more than could be written on a book flap, its ideas could have been resumed in, say, one article in the McKinsey Quarterly.

3 out of 5 stars A sharp, narrow focus on a few elements of strategy.......2000-06-08

This is another McKinsey book on strategy , which looks at strategies for market dominance in the context of globalisation. It covers an important subject well, but it is not in the same class as the earlier book from the Mckinsey stable Baghai et al. The Alchemy of Growth. It is concerned with financial, market segment, and arbitrage (taking advantage of geographic differences in productivity and factor cost) strategies to achieve dominance on a global basis within a preferred field. There is no doubt that these are important, but it is equally clear that they do not provide a full basis for a successful strategy. There is very little sense of concern with customer satisfaction or customer intimacy and surprisingly little concern with attracting and building skills other than to say it is important. Further, little attention is given to strategic partnering - alliances between equals - which is currently the focus of a great deal of strategic attention.

My overall impression is that this is another example of a very good extended article that has been expanded into a 300 page book. It also suffers from a lack of summarisation of the main points. The overall impression is of a sharp but rather narrow focus on a few key elements in a successful global strategy, representing itself as the whole.

3 out of 5 stars Global Business Economics 101 for Freshmen.......2000-05-24

This book is a good survey of some of the factors involved in globalization. It also provides some useful perspectives for thinking about your firm's choices. The book's key weakness is in taking a strategy perspective from about 50,000 feet in the air. Most executives will not be quite sure what to do with the principles that the authors outline, as a result.

This book is essentially built around one concept: That cross-boundary competition for goods and services will go from 20 percent of world GDP now to 80 percent in 30 years. Naturally, this assumption is pretty critical. Chances are that not all industries will follow this model exactly. Some business areas will stay much more local than others, something this book doesn't talk much about. If globalization slows down or speeds up very much, business plans will quickly get out-of-kilter. Although the authors emphasize not under or overestimating globalization, they do not provide much insight into how one should think about how fast to go.

Of the other irresistible forces in the global economy (like increasingly rapid technology changes, currency fluctuations, changing customer needs, homogenized culture, shifts in government regulation) little more than passing references are made except to assume that the cost of capital for big firms will go down and stay there (based on the trend of the last few years).

I found that putting globalization at the center for your strategy is a doubtful thing to do. Other factors could easily be more important. How to decide how important globalization is for your company was not well addressed.

I also suspect that the authors are somewhat inexperienced in best practice research, which makes me nervous about their conclusions. For example, they were surprised to find that 25 successful global firms relied on different strategies to succeed. Anyone who has done best practice benchmarking knows that best practices are scattered around among firms, not cloned in total into each leading organization. It may also be the case that globalization was only one factor in the selection of these practices. Without normalizing for the influence of the other factors, how do we know what the globalization best practices really are? This book is so qualitative that I doubt if any serious quantitative analysis was done in this area. If it was, I didn't see much sign of it in the text.

I think that readers would have benefited from more detailed case histories. I happen to know a lot about how the companies (used as examples in the book) operate. If I had not had that knowledge, I think I could easily have drawn the wrong conclusions from the sketchy information that the authors provide. For example, the development of how Enron enters new business areas is worth a book all by itself. AES is another interesting example, around a somewhat different model, but was surprisingly left out by the authors.

If you are an undergraduate business student, you will probably find this book provocative and interesting. If nothing else, you will have a better sense for what kind of executives will be in short supply in the future. As I mentioned earlier, if you are a business executive, you may be fascinated in places, but probably won't find much actionable in it. My 3 star grade is an average of 5 stars for the business student and 1 star for usefulness to the executive.
Race For The World Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Race For The World Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
    Lowell, Jane Fraser, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Wilhelm Rall Bryan
    Manufacturer: Harvard Business School P.
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover
    ASIN: B000W5H0B0
    Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm
      Jane; Rall, Wilhelm; Oppenheim, Jeremy; Br Fraser
      Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Pr
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover
      ASIN: B000NY2NV2
      The Race For The World: Strategies To Build A Great Global Firm.(Review) (book review): An article from: Government Finance Review
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        The Race For The World: Strategies To Build A Great Global Firm.(Review) (book review): An article from: Government Finance Review
        Brennan Schwarz
        Manufacturer: Government Finance Officers Association
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Digital

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        Release Date: 2005-07-28

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        This digital document is an article from Government Finance Review, published by Government Finance Officers Association on August 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1000 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

        Citation Details
        Title: The Race For The World: Strategies To Build A Great Global Firm.(Review) (book review)
        Author: Brennan Schwarz
        Publication: Government Finance Review (Magazine/Journal)
        Date: August 1, 2000
        Publisher: Government Finance Officers Association
        Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Page: 57

        Article Type: Book Review

        Distributed by Thomson Gale

        Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • A Sad but Compelling Book
        • A Highly Readable, Compelling Work
        • A thoughtful, unsparing look at the death penalty in action
        Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row
        David R. Dow
        Manufacturer: Beacon Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        Book Description

        When David Dow took his first capital case, he supported the death penalty. He changed his position as the men on death row became real people to him, and as he came to witness the profound injustices they endured: from coerced confessions to disconcertingly incompetent lawyers; from racist juries and backward judges to a highly arbitrary death penalty system.

        It is these concrete accounts of the people Dow has known and represented that prove the death penalty is consistently unjust, and it's precisely this fundamental—and lethal—injustice, Dow argues, that should compel us to abandon the system altogether.

        "An honorably dispassionate and logical broadside against a shameful practice."
        —Kirkus Reviews

        "Dow reveals the dirty little secret of American death-penalty litigation: procedure trumps innocence . . . [His book] is insightful and full of the kinds of revelations that may lead readers to reconsider their stand on the death penalty."
        —Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune

        "Dow's book leaves all else behind. It is powerful, direct, informative, and told in compelling human terms. He makes us see that the issue is not sentiment or retribution or even innocence. It is justice."
        —Anthony Lewis, Pulitzer Prize–winning former columnist for the New York Times

        David R. Dow is professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and an internationally recognized figure in the fight against the death penalty. He is the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network and has represented more than thirty death row inmates. Regularly quoted in publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post, Dow lives in Houston, Texas.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars A Sad but Compelling Book.......2005-06-07

        A woman recently died in our state prison. She had killed a half dozen people before she was caught and sentenced to life. She went to jail a dozen or more years ago. At the time there was a lot of comment that she should have gotten the death penalty. In fact, even after her death there were peole who said that she should have been put to death. I asked some of them why. She was locked up, she didn't hurt any more people, society was just as safe as if she had been killed, but we didn't kill her. They didn't have a good answer beyond "we just should have."

        The United States is right up there with all the other progressive countries that allow the death penalty: North Korea, Iran, Iraq, China, Vietnam, most of Africa and the middle East. Notably missing from this list include England, Germany, France, Finland, most of the civilized countries.

        I don't know why, but I guess that I had hoped that with an issue so important that our Government, our legal system would be very careful and lean over backwards to execute only the worst of the worst. Why do we allow people to be executed because a piece of paper was filed a day late? Why do we execute people when there is any chance at all that they might not be guilty? Why do ask the state to make our society a little more violent than it already is.

        This is a sad book that makes compelling reading.

        5 out of 5 stars A Highly Readable, Compelling Work.......2005-05-27

        There are no punches pulled here. David Dow doesn't shy away from describing his representation of the truly guilty or their crimes. But what will take your breath away are his descriptions of the brutally honest conversations that post-conviction counsel must have with their death row clients. It's not about asking "Did you do it" but advising the condemned that no matter how good the case or the lawyer, the death sentence probably will be carried out. Perhaps only oncologists for Stage 4 cancer patients know how it feels to be so brutally honest.

        Books on legal topics have a deserved reputation for being dense, dry, and mired in technical language. Dow avoids these traps with clear, compelling writing and delivers a work that is accessible to lay people and lawyers alike.

        For lawyers, the book is attractive for its well-argued and well-supported themes. The footnotes are worth the price of entry alone.

        For the lay reader, Dow develops his themes by focusing on the cases of some of the many death row inmates he has represented over the years. Along the way, he describes his personal journey from death penalty supporter to abolitionist.

        This is a worthwhile work for anyone concerned about our criminal justice system and the myriad ways in which the "machinery of justice" and the "machinery of death" do not mesh.

        5 out of 5 stars A thoughtful, unsparing look at the death penalty in action.......2005-05-13

        The author, David Dow, is a law professor at the University of Houston who has practiced as a lawyer representing death row inmates in Texas for over fifteen years. His book is unusual for several reasons. First, Dow is writing as an insider - an experienced death row attorney. Second, the book is not intended to elicit `amens' from like-minded activists: Dow once supported the death penalty himself, does not dismiss that view out of hand, does not indulge the sentimental fantasy that most death row inmates are innocent, and does not downplay the seriousness of the crimes the guilty ones have committed. Finally, Dow is one of those rare lawyers who can actually write. His prose is clear and unsentimental, but also colorful and peppered with strong judgments backed by proof.

        Using careful argumentation, Dow makes three main points. First, questions of innocence, while important, should not drive the debate on the death penalty. To Dow, the condemnation of innocent people, or people who are guilty but did not receive fair trials, is merely a symptom of a disease. That disease - a set of systemic problems with the capital punishment system - should be the real focus of study and reform. Second, the "endless appeals" that most people think ensure careful review often do nothing of the sort. Dow chronicles case after case in which courts and lawyers argue over the Byzantine technical rules to the defendant's appeal, only to have the courts eventually decide that they are legally barred from even hearing evidence as to whether the inmate's trial was fair.

        Finally, Dow argues that legions of judges, under the intense political and emotional pressure of death penalty cases, have given up on the rule of law. You may rub your eyes in disbelief at the federal appeals court which denied an appeal before it had even been filed, or the state court who kept a defense lawyer on the case even after he took a job with the district attorney, but these episodes really happened, and are only two of many Dow documents. Dow calls these incidents acts of judicial lawlessness, and concludes: "Murder is undoubtedly among the ugliest of crimes, but it is beyond ironic when our response to horrific crimes is to embrace the lawless tactics of the vigilante."

        The most gripping parts of the book, however, are surely the vivid stories of the many inmates and other people Dow met in his years of work, and his harrowing and emotional visits with inmates on death row. Stories like that of Cesar Fierro, driven insane by the 26 years he has spent on death row in procedural limbo, even though the state's evidence against him fell apart long ago and prosecutor who sent him to death row now admits there's no longer a case against him. Or of Johnny Joe Martinez, whose tearful and intense four-hour meeting with the woman whose son he murdered led her to write the parole board urging them to commute Martinez's sentence to life in prison. (He was executed after losing by a vote of 9-8). These wrenching, sometimes even oddly amusing stories leaven the necessary legal discussions, and shine a merciless spotlight on the human cost of executions to all those involved - not just the offender.

        "Executed on a Technicality" sheds light on a part of the criminal justice system off-limits to all but a few, and offers a genuinely new approach to a topic one might have thought had been explored from every possible angle.
        Innocence isn't everything.(The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Sister Helen Prejean)(Executed on a Technicality: Lethal ... Review): An article from: The Progressive
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          Innocence isn't everything.(The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Sister Helen Prejean)(Executed on a Technicality: Lethal ... Review): An article from: The Progressive
          Anne-Marie Cusac
          Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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          Citation Details
          Title: Innocence isn't everything.(The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Sister Helen Prejean)(Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row by David R. Dow)(Book Review)
          Author: Anne-Marie Cusac
          Publication: The Progressive (Magazine/Journal)
          Date: October 1, 2005
          Publisher: Thomson Gale
          Volume: 69 Issue: 10 Page: 49(4)

          Article Type: Book Review

          Distributed by Thomson Gale

          Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation: The Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism
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            Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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            Economic Development and Cooperation in the Pacific Basin: Trade, Investment, and Environmental Issues
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              Book Description

              The Pacific Basin is the most dynamic economic region of the world, and has become a model for efficient international specialization, growth, and rising living standards. This book brings together leading economic experts from around the region to appraise and distill the most important issues facing its policy makers, including trade relations, foreign investment flows, and the environment. As we stand at the threshold of the Pacific Century, the lessons this region imparts to us hold the promise of rising living standards around the world.
              Approaches to Intelligent Agents: Second Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA'99, Kyoto, Japan, December 2-3, 1999 Proceedings (Lecture ... / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence)
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                Approaches to Intelligent Agents: Second Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA'99, Kyoto, Japan, December 2-3, 1999 Proceedings (Lecture ... / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence)

                Manufacturer: Springer
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Paperback

                GeneralGeneral | Artificial Intelligence | Computer Science | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
                Software DevelopmentSoftware Development | Software Design, Testing & Engineering | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
                GeneralGeneral | Networks, Protocols & APIs | Networking | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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                SoftwareSoftware | Information Systems | Computer Science & Information Systems | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books
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                Computers & InternetComputers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
                ASIN: 3540668233

                Book Description

                This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA'99, held in Kyoto, Japan in December 1999. The 17 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 43 submissions. The papers are organized in sections on agent cooperation, agent mobility, learning in multiagent systems, interface agents, and agent system design.
                Areas of cooperation in library development in Asian and Pacific regions: Papers presented at the 1983 joint annual Program of the Asian/Pacific American ... June 28-29, 1983, Los Angeles, California
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                  Areas of cooperation in library development in Asian and Pacific regions: Papers presented at the 1983 joint annual Program of the Asian/Pacific American ... June 28-29, 1983, Los Angeles, California
                  Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
                  Manufacturer: Distributed by the Ohio University Libraries
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Paperback

                  GeneralGeneral | Library & Information Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                  ASIN: 0930691008
                  Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation: Challenges and tasks for the twenty-first century (Pacific Trade and Development Conference//(Papers))
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                    Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation: Challenges and tasks for the twenty-first century (Pacific Trade and Development Conference//(Papers))

                    Manufacturer: Routledge
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Library Binding

                    Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    InternationalInternational | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                    RelationsRelations | International | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                    GeneralGeneral | Special Groups | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                    ASIN: 0415248051

                    Book Description

                    Featuring contributions from distinguished groups of international academic experts, this book is essential reading for all those interested in political and economic developments in the Asia Pacific. This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) organization and examines the challenges APEC now faces at the beginning of the new century.

                    Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation Apec Handbook (World Strategic and Business Information Library)
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                      Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation Apec Handbook (World Strategic and Business Information Library)
                      USA International Business Publications
                      Manufacturer: Intl Business Pubns USA
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Paperback

                      GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                      GeneralGeneral | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                      ASIN: 143300254X
                      Economic Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region
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                        Economic Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region
                        John P. Hardt
                        Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Paperback

                        Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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                        GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                        ASIN: 0813379415
                        The Economic Development of the Pacific Basin: Growth Dynamics, Trade Relations and Emerging Cooperation
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                          The Economic Development of the Pacific Basin: Growth Dynamics, Trade Relations and Emerging Cooperation
                          Willy Kraus , and Wilfried Lukenhorst
                          Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
                          ProductGroup: Book
                          Binding: Hardcover

                          Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          Production & OperationsProduction & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          ASIN: 0312004524
                          Economic Dynamism in the Asia-Pacific (Pacific Studies (London, England).)
                          Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                          • An understandable and accessible road to the Asia Pacific
                          Economic Dynamism in the Asia-Pacific (Pacific Studies (London, England).)
                          G. Thompson
                          Manufacturer: Routledge
                          ProductGroup: Book
                          Binding: Paperback

                          Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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                          Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
                          GeneralGeneral | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                          Ethnic StudiesEthnic Studies | Special Groups | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                          ASIN: 0415172748

                          Book Description

                          Economic Dynamism in the Asia Pacific examines the rise of the importance of the Pacific as an economic region, the sources of that rise, its future development and the consequences for the global economy. The chapters establish the extent to which the Asia-Pacific has developed as a regional system through an analysis of the patterns of integration of the principal economies. The volume reflects on the relationship between the key individual economies of Japan, Korea, China and the United States, and the rest of the regional economy. The book also discusses the consequences of this dynamic regional economy on the performance and governance of the international economic system.

                          Customer Reviews:

                          5 out of 5 stars An understandable and accessible road to the Asia Pacific.......2002-12-08

                          Economic Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific edited by Grahame Thompson is a large and diverse collection of articles by different scholars. It provides a wide range of points of view. One of the books' high points is engagement in a broad spectrum of topics, not limited to but including such issues as regionalism, patterns of trade and investment, sources of economic growth, financial systems, labour markets, the role of the state, corporate governance, technological innovation and the environment. In this book, the European Union (EU) is used as a framework for measuring progress of the process of regional integration in the Asia-Pacific. Diversity in the EU pales if juxtaposed against the vast social, cultural, political and economic differences in the Asia-Pacific. Moreover, in comparison to the bureaucratic framework of Europe, regional groups such as APEC are seen to be a more informal forum, maybe taking into account the traditional Asian perspective on developing long-term relationships as opposed to formal contracts. Also, any agreements on special zones is seen to be stimulated by a market mechanisms rather than national governmental agreements. The analysis does not stop at the "pro" arguments for integration, but rather also presented are the arguments against integration. Regionalism, whether inspired by the EU example or the informality of APEC, is not necessarily in accord with the multilateral approach to international economic exchange and this is examined in some detail in the book.

                          The different corporate frameworks are examined in this book. Close knit family management and ownership, the performance of many core activities in-house, and low consultation with subordinates in the Korean conglomerates, the "chaebol", is juxtaposed against the very different internal promotion mechanism and reliance on subcontracting as well as consensual decision-making in the Japanese "keiretsu". Although the canvas is painted in broad brush strokes and despite the delimited nature of the studies, the book has explanatory powers. Witness the examination of Taiwan. Taiwan is seen, once again as different from the Korean model "chaebol" and the Japanese model "keiretsu". With the state directing the economy, while smaller companies, civic society, and members of socially linked business groups, controlling the export trade. Finally, and perhaps the most accessible explanations relating to the 'flying geese' theory of Akamatsu Kaname comes under fire by Brendan Barker and Akira Goto. Both Barker and Akira Goto provide a very comprehensive and understandable examination of a simple yet hard to explain theory.

                          One important conclusion that may be useful to other 'late comers' is how complicated the development process has been in these countries. No simple model provides one pat answer. While in some countries the state may have played a more pivotal role, in others it may have been the market and less intervention by the state that set the process in motion. The Statist model, where the state played a more important role, the nature of the measures and policies are treated so comprehensively that a non-specialist can understand it. What is needed, according to this book, are policies that have been properly tried and tested and efficiently and effectively used but rather a guide. To put it another way, studies in this collection are not a map for any development strategy as such but rather as a guide. The most significant thing to walk away with is the rejection of a "one size fits all" model of development. It could be argued that according to the IMF and the World Bank have a lot to learn and can effect change for the better. Another plus to the collection is the non-dogmatic perspective on development by the scholars who contributed to this book. The reader is left to make up his/her own mind. In no way can this book be seen as a one-sided analysis. My understanding of the dynamic region of Asia-Pacific was greatly enriched by this volume. By reading this book, I have effected an enhanced and much deeper understanding of the crucial issues and the possible future of the Asia Pacific.

                          Miguel Llora
                          Economics Relations and Developments in Asia and the Pacific: Collected Papers of International Cooperation Studies
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                            Economics Relations and Developments in Asia and the Pacific: Collected Papers of International Cooperation Studies

                            Manufacturer: Kobe University
                            ProductGroup: Book
                            Binding: Hardcover
                            ASIN: B000HT9LHW

                            Books:

                            1. Reinventing Collective Action: From the Global to the Local (Political Quarterly Special Issues)
                            2. Religion in Global Civil Society
                            3. Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace
                            4. Security and Environment in the Mediterranean: Conceptualising Security and Environmental Conflicts
                            5. Security Policies and Procedures: Principles and Practices (Prentice Hall Security Series)
                            6. Smart Contracting for Local Government Services: Processes and Experience (Privatizing Government: An Interdisciplinary Series)
                            7. Some Thoughts on Improving Economic Statistics (Essays in Public Policy)
                            8. Start Late, Finish Rich (Canadian Edition): A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom At Any Age
                            9. Stochastic Optimization Methods
                            10. Strategic Decision Making: Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Decision Engineering)

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