The Global Environment of Business [Paperback]

The globalization of business activity: whether you love it or hate it, it affects you. What causes it, how different countries deal with it, and what the future might hold for it are all key questions whichThe Global Environment of Businessanswers. It traces the growth of big business, the comings and goings of economic globalization over two centuries, and compares the institutional environments and track records of business in a selection of countries on every continent today. It examines the role of local and regional clusters of small and medium-sized companies, and the obstacles which both oil wealth, and concentrated land ownership, pose for poor countries trying to develop. The final chapter assesses the sustainability of global business in the context of climate change and growth of regional blocs. Changing forms of business organization; changing technology; who wins and who loses; all are kept in sight throughout the book.

Frederick Guy pulls together all these various themes. Employing clear, vivid examples, narrative structures, and stories, it is not a dry textbook. Economic, political, and sociological theories are used, explained, evaluated; and employed to knit together a collection of vivid examples and cases.

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. --Journal of International Business Studies

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 bl£‹