The Global Environment of Business

Frederick Guy's The Global Environment of Business offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the environment in which international business operates. International: How do multi-national corporations, nation states, regional trade blocs, markets, and global institutions interact to shape the international economic system? Who wins and who loses when the economy internationalizes? Is internationalization leading to a global world, or a regional one? How will efforts to curtail and adapt to climate change affect international business?Technological and historical: How has the business environment been shaped by production systems, new methods of business organization, information and communication technology, transport, and the process of technological change itself?Comparative: How do institutional differences affect national specialization and economic performance? How do the business systems of Europe differ from that of the United States, or those of East Asia from those of Latin America? Why do location and face-to-face contact matter in an age of high-speed communication and cheap long-distance transportation? Why have some countries grown so fast while others remain poor?The Global Environment of Business draws on extensive research by economists, political scientists, sociologists, geographers, and business historians. There is more theory and academic debate here than in most books on the subject, but it is presented and explained clearly, and illustrated with lots of examples.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Background: Technology, Business Organization, and Politics 1: High Fixed Costs, Mass Production, and the Origins of the Large Corporation 2: Globalization Comes and Goes: the End of Free Trade in the Late 19th Century 3: Mass Production and Lean Production Part II: Globalization 4: Globalization Part III: Different Ways of Doing Business 5: Clusters: Location in the Global Economy 6: Varieties of Capitalism 7: Up From Poverty: Some Issues in Economic Development Part IV: The future 8: Regionalism, the Natural Environment, and the End of Global Market Liberalization

About the Author :
Frederick Guy is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management at Birkbeck College, University of London. He was born in San Francisco. He received his BS in the Political Economy of Natural Resources from the University of California at Berkeley, and his PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He worked for ten years as a manager, director, and management consultant for consumer cooperatives in food retailing, wholesaling, and housing, and for two years as a researcher at Cambridge University's Centre for Business Research. He has been with the Department of Management at Birkbeck College, University of London, since 1997. He lives in London with his wife and son.

Review :
The author has done the student and the general reader a great favor by weaving together many contributions into a single highly readable book...I am hopeful that many lecturers will chose to stretch into disciplines outside their specialties to make the best use of this uniquely integrative approach. They will be offering the student a rewarding educational experience. The book is a remarkable effort to provide an explanation of the current configuration of international business. Namely it tries to answer two key questions: What are the roots of the global corporation? Why did the Nation State accept to enter into a system of integrated markets?...this book should be part of any modern course on international business and/or globalization. This thoroughly researched, well written volume provides an extensive and careful investigation of how the complex relationship between policy, technology and the international business system has evolved in time. The approach is multidimensional, blending in a successful way international economics and international business with political economy and economic history. The Global Environment of Business is a fine text offering an analysis of the environment in which international business operates. From how multi-national corporations and nation states interact to shape the international economic system to how the economy internationalizes and how this can lead to a global world or a regional focus, this is packed with technological and historic assessments based on economic research and political science alike: perfect for any college-level business library. A unique book on international business providing all essential insights to comprehend the driving mechanisms of economic globalization. The clear presentation of the key intuitions of international trade theory makes this manuscript a main reference for all international business economists. I highly recommend, Frederick Guys The Global Environment of Business. It is rare to see a book that with such intellectual depth and breadth that can serve as a course textbook. This is really the best textbook for a graduate student who studies the world economy. I will use it in my course.