7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
disappointed by the poor-quality of this book, June 15, 2011
I feel astonished by the poor-quality of this textbook!! The two authors demonstrate little or even no knowledge about international trade at all. (I still cannot believe how people dealing with apparel manufacturing most of the time and without strong economic background dare to write a textbook about international trade!!) Not only the layout of the book is very confusing, there are also many mistakes providing incorrect or misleading information. Take chapter six (trade barriers and regulation) and Chapter 11 (Asia and Oceania) for example:
chapter six (trade barriers and regulation)
* Page 172: a good proportion of definitions provided in the "Global Lexion" were questionable. Such as "effective tariff", "GATT" "most-favored nation", "multilateral trade agreement", "protectionism", "voluntary export restraints"...
* Page 175: the book says "protectionism seeks to use trade barriers to minimize imports". However, it is a very basic knowledge point that "protectionism" refers to both limiting imports and promoting exports.
* Page 176: the concept of "protected trade" is very misleading if the rest of the content is talking about "custom service", "tariff" and "free-trade zones". I don't think policymakers in any country would admit they are in support of "protected trade". Maybe the authors never heard about the term "regulated trade".
* Page 177--180: the tariff example is "imagined" by the authors. Strongly suggest checking WTO website to see the real classification of various types of tariffs. (for example, it is a shame without talking about tariff quota)
* Page 182-183: for the Nontariff barrier part, the authors even didn't mention the most common trade remedy measures: AD, CVD and safeguard. Neither did TBT and SPS were mentioned...Also, never seen another book cites "MFA" as a NTB.
* Page 191'"Then becoming WTO members along with China...". China was not a WTO member until late 2001 and WTO was established as early as 1995.
* Page 193: the China-EU MOU was terminated at the end of 2007 not 2008. Since the termination of the US-China MOU, USITC started monitoring textiles and apparel from China previously covered by the MOU. Remember, we are already in the middle of 2011 and this book doesn't show any updated research of what's going on after 2005.
Chapter 11 (Asia and Oceania)
· For many important statistics, citations and sources were missing. I hope the two authors shall understand the criteria for plagiarism in academics. For example: page 343 about the number of bilateral agreement; page347 "HK, TW and South Korea supplied 30% of world exports of textile and apparel products"; page 350 "Liz Claiborne soured from 60 countries...reduced to 30 countries...", etc..
· The whole chapter provides no more than just simple gathering of data and plain description. For a textbook specifically discussing the global textile and apparel industries, this is not up to the standard. I wish the authors could provide insightful views on the two fundamental questions: (1)What role do Asian countries play in the global soft-goods industry? How does this role evolve in the past and what it might be in the future? (2) What are the patterns of intra-region textile and apparel trade in Asia-pacific region? Why intra-region trade happens and how it might evolve in the future? These are very critical questions to help students/professionals understand the big landscape of the subject.
· Page 341: about APEC. It would be too naive without talking about the role and influences of the U.S.behind the founding of this organization.
· Page 343: The author claims that "trade barriers (primarily in the form of tariffs)"within Asia were already relatively low. However, this argument is against the fact: (1) textile and apparel are among the product categories still subject to "tariff peaks"; (2) NTB actually played a more critical role in restricting the free flow of commodities.
· Page 347: paragraph of "overview of ASIAN textile and apparel trade". I wish the authors can mention the "flying geese pattern" which can help reader better understand why apparel manufacturing shift from Japan to "four tigers" and later to China.Also, the upgrading of industrial structure within these countries also significantly matters, but unfortunately were not mentioned at all.
· Page 347: the last paragraph about China. I think the authors' view missed the key points. The world economy was in deep recession in 2008 which resulted in the decreased demand for apparel consumption in leading markets.Processed trade still played an important role in China's textile and apparel exports. Therefore, when China's apparel export slowed down, it was not surprising to see its demand for imported textiles declined as well.
· Page 347: again, the EU-China MOU terminated at the end of2007, not 2008.
· Page 350: the last paragraph about China's dominant role. If the authors take a look at the picture at the product level, the conclusions will be very different. Also, "China+1"model is already emerging.
· Page 355: I never heard about the term "socialist-capitalist". We usually call China a "state-capitalism". (Yes, the authors are not familiar with many terminologies". Also, I don't think tariff and taxation are more important than industrial policies and subsidies in supporting the development of China (and many other Asian countries') domestic textile and apparel industries.
· Page 356: the description about China's geographic shift in apparel manufacturing is totally WRONG!! The manufacturing didn't shift from Guangzhou to Shanghai,it's the opposite route!! Very ridiculous!! If the authors check statistics,they will find over 70% of China's textile and apparel output are for domestic consumption. The export dependence rate is still declining.
To sum up, I feel sorry to see such poorly-written book be published and mislead students...
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