Customer Reviews

World Class: Thriving Locally in the Global Economy

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There we many examples of world class communities and how they attract and retain business. That was one of the problems I had with the book. There were just too many examples. A good editor could have cut the size of this book in half. The material contrasting the global view (cosmopolitan) against the local view, was thought provoking.

This book sparked my understanding of "community intelligence" and the need for an integrated network of civic leaders, corporate leaders, academic leaders, and social or non-profit leaders all sharing the same "intelligence" on what the threat to the local community is in terms of losing jobs and remaining attractive as an investment. The author boils it down to each community deciding if it is a thinker, a maker, or a trader community, and then setting out to ensure that everything about the community supports that specific kind of business at a "world-class" level.

The cliché-ridden manifesto on "globalism" has become a staple of our time, with seemingly every consultant, economist and professor spewing out a book or two about the worldwide economy. Few of these authors ever rise above the self-evident and oft-stated themes of wonderful opportunity and mortal danger. But in World Class, author Rosabeth Moss Kanter presents - hold on to your seats - an innovative analysis of globalization's economic and social trends. While the book can't entirely escape the trite "change or die" admonitions of the genre, some of her conclusions truly are original: Companies forced to devote their attention to the global stage will gradually lose interest in their traditional local communities, and those communities will be forced to compete with other localities around the world for the privilege of hosting industry. We [...] recommend this book to any executive or student seeking a non-emotional, fact-based look at the implications of globalism for business and society.