Keiretsu
Two Tokyo-based reporters delve inside Japanese big business to show Westerners the full picture -- and to explain precisely how "Japan Inc." has come to dominate global commerce in modern times.Kenichi Miyashita and David Russell investigate their subject through the fascinating prism of the keiretsu -- Japan's government-sanctioned networks of banks, manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors. Do these syndicates have valuable lessons to teach us? Or do they deserve their rap as protectionist cartels? Or both? Only here will you discover the complete and unbiased truth. And only here will you find haunting, firsthand accounts by Japanese subcontractors of their service to the keiretsu -- a side of business rarely seen by Westerners."Our hard-nosed business leaders look like Dorothy wandering through Oz when it comes to dealing with Japan, " the authors say. If you do business in Japan or with Japanese firms -- or are simply curious about the country's rise and possible decline -- Keiretsu will provide an eye-opening, page-turning education.
Microenterprises in Developing Countries
This collection is organized according to the major issues relating to the subject: the structure of the microenterprise sector, government policies towards microenterprises, informal credit markets, financial and technical services, institutional aspects and a review of the experience of assistance projects.
No Sense of Place
How has television affected our everyday experience? This question has generated endless arguments and speculations, but no thinker has addressed the issue with such force and originality as Joshua Meyrowitz in ^INo Sense of Place.^R Advancing a daring and sophisticated theory, Meyrowitz shows how television and other electronic media create new social situations that are no longer shaped by ^I where^R we are or who is "with" us.^L While other media experts have limited the debate to program content, Meyrowitz focuses on the ways in which television has rearranged "who knows what about whom," making it impossible for us to behave with each other in traditional ways. He shows how television has lifted many of the veils of secrecy between children and adults, men and women, and politicians and average citizens. The result is a series of revolutionary changes, including the blurring of age, gender, and authority distinctions.
