Customer Reviews

Global Paradox: The Bigger the World Economy, the More Powerful Its Smallest Players

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Three major points in Chapters 1-3 : (D.J. Smith)

(1)The bigger the world's economy, the more powerful its smallest players. As globalization occurs, people seek linkages which cater to smaller, more "tribal" concerns: language, culture and/or niche markets. (2)Individualism will prevail over government-run structure. The person can influence the direction of economic consumption and governance: both tribal and global concerns, not one or the other, can be addressed. (3)Technological driving forces: blending old and new technology allows ubiquitous, anytime access to everyone. This allows community groupings to develop based on desire to share certain knowledge, rather than in a predetermined or overtly mediated fashion. A mixed-use approach to education and technology will give fluidity and greater access to learners, educators and anyone who desires to know something; and do so in a manner appropriate to the moment; e.g. my laptop works well on a LAN (access to networks and the Internet is immediately available) but I'd be much happier to take a book to the beach (no batteries to run down, and no sheaf of printout to be blown away by the offshore breeze.) In either case above, I'd be learning something, and without the confines of the traditional classroom and across global domains.

Comments on Chapters 4-6: (F. Rendon)

Chap 4: New Rules: A Universal Code of Conduct for the 21st Century. The "new rules" are drawn from the smallest players. There is a trend toward greater corporate social responsibility; political leaders have been ousted because of unethical actions. Ethics will play a big part in the global economy. Integrity and the bottom line will coexist in Codes of Conduct. "The point is that as companies become more global, with factories, sales and marketing, and back-office operations in far-flung places, convincing socially conscious customers that they are not exploiting the disadvantaged, disturbing the environment, or destroying a country's cultura! l heritage will become critical to the success of their product." (p.226).

Chap 5: The Dragon Century: The Chinese Commonwealth-Gaining Power from its Parts. Deng Xiaoping developed China's economic reform in 1992--more an entrepreneurial capitalist business environment than the state controlled economy. By opening up to the global market, plethoras of foreign businesses have converged into China, with thousands and thousands of small operations. They even now have two stock markets. However, they depend upon outsiders for power generating equipment, technology, etc. Why is China able to grow economically whilst Russia just lumbers along? Using a metaphor, China has PC's rather than mainframe mentality.

Chap 6: Asia and Latin America: New Areas of Opportunity. America and Europe have mature economies. Japan will have moderate growth. The Pacific Rim and Latin America will have booming growth. Asia Pacific is destined to lead the global economy into the next century. (p. 336). David O'Rear, senior consultant and regional economist at the Economic Intelligence Unit in Hong Kong anticipates that Asia will overtake North America in 2018 and the European Community in 2022 in regards to economic growth. What's my point? There's great potential over there. The Pacific Rim countries must have vision of what their roles are in the new global economy.

Conclusion: All trends are in the direction of making the smallest player in the global economy more and more powerful. It is the new technology that is allowing companies to deconstruct, to radically decentralize, to push power and decision making down to the lowest possible point. The world's smallest companies and the larger ones that have reconstituted themselves as a collection of small companies will survive and flourish. (p. 357) The new rules of business and political conduct that are becoming universal are derived from expectations of local relationships and family practices. (p. 359).

Paradoxes surround us in the big/little, global/local, corporate/personal, and public/private contexts. You can find here insights for the emergence of the post-industrial global culture and economy. Because of the global integration, small businesses have even more hope of becoming successful in the future. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
--A famous paradox in architecture that has served the profession well is "Less is more," meaning that the less you clutter a building with embellishments, the more elegant it can be, the greater a work of architecture it can be.
--The entrepreneur is also the most important player in the building of the global economy. So much so that big companies are decentralizing and reconstituting themselves as networks of entrepreneurs.
--The principle of the global paradox--the bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players--applies especially to business. Huge companies like IBM, Philips, and GM must break up to become confederations of small, autonomous, entrepreneurial companies if they are to survive. Big companies and "economies of scale" succeeded in the comparatively slow-moving world of the four decades to the mid-1980s. But now, only small and medium-sized companies--or big companies that have restyled themselves as networks of entrepreneurs--will survive to be viable when we turn the corner o f the next century. Already 50 percent of U.S. exports are created by companies with 19 or fewer employees; the same is true of Germany. --Economies of scale are giving way to economies of scope, finding the right size for synergy, market flexibility, and above all, speed. ...What is going on in American corporations today is the "ODD effect" : outsourcing, de-layering, and deconstruction.
--In the years ahead all big companies will find it increasingly difficult to compete with--and in general will perform more poorly than--smaller, speedier, more innovative companies.

Create a niche brand for yourself, and win!

Popular Futurism in the vein of Alvin Toffler, but even more journalistic and accessible. The title is the theme of the book as well as its own powerful metaphor of what is happening in the globalized world. His thesis is encapsulated in the subtitle of the book: "The Bigger the World Economy, The More Powerful Its Smallest Players". The ever-increasing speed of change provides ever smaller economic entities - businesses and countries - with greater opportunities given the flexibility inherent in being smaller. Pink talks about this in "Free Agent Nation". Naisbitt relates it to countries. It was this idea that inspired me (in my book "The Optimistic Jew") to think of Israel as a disproportionate (to its size) driving force in the world economy and to aspire to the highest median income in the world by 2030.

Narrative is indeed the most salient feature of this book, and apparently there is nothing too exciting about it-- in any rate, that was the my impression when I first read it some ten years ago.

This time, it really amazed me: the predictions made some ten years ago are so correct, particularly the part concerning Asia and China where I live. Furthermore, when the author quoted, he epitomized.... I don't know much about Futurism, but I am not sure if analysis or theories could contribute much in a book of this nature. Anyway, had I paid better attention to this book, I could have an extra edge in my investment portfolio particularly in Greater China... And so, I will waste no time in checking out his other books.

Naisbitt has happened upon an important topic which could have been explored by a stronger intellect to make an important contribution to academics, policy makers, and managers understanding the emerging world structure. Unfortunately, Naisbitt lacks the intellectual firepower and personal gravitas to pull it off. As a previous reviewers suggests, he substitutes trite anecdotes in place of even the simplist forms of empiricism. His thinking is simplistic and demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of the true complexity of globalization, the working of international trade, and the development of intellectual property. This work is 'People' magazine journalism trying unsuccessfully to masquerade as public intellectualism. Obviously, I am advising against reading this book if your interest in the future of globalization is at all serious.

The first time, I read this book, I expected analytical contents and insights. But it give so much narration; no analysis and supportive evidence or data.