The Dutch economy has relied on trade for centuries. During the seventeenth century the Netherlands experienced a Golden Age built largely on commercial enterprise, and trade continues to be the golden link in the supply chain from producers to consumers. Yet we know very little about the business of trade and the people involved in it. What was the nature of their work, and how did it evolve through the ages? In the lavishly illustrated At Home on the World Markets Joost Jonker and Keetie Sluyterman look at mercantile dynasties - such as the Trips and the Van Eeghens - and companies - such as the famous Dutch East Indian Company VOC and the modern trading company Hagemeyer - that have been largely unstudied. They describe the evolution of a unique economic sector that occupies a key position in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
Inside the House of Money lifts the veil on the typically opaque world of hedge funds, offering a rare glimpse at how today's highest paid money managers approach their craft. Author Steven Drobny demystifies how these star traders make billions for well-heeled investors, revealing their theories, strategies and approaches to markets. Drobny, cofounder of Drobny Global Advisors, an international macroeconomic research and advisory firm, has tapped into his network and beyond in order assemble this collection of thirteen interviews with the industry's best minds. Along the way, you'll get an inside look at firsthand trading experiences through some of the major world financial crises of the last few decades. Whether Russian bonds, Pakistani stocks, Southeast Asian currencies or stakes in African brewing companies, no market or instrument is out of bounds for these elite global macro hedge fund managers. Highly accessible and filled with in-depth expert opinion, Inside the House of Money is a must-read for financial professionals and anyone else interested in understanding the complexities at stake in world financial markets. "The ruminations of supposedly hush-hush hedge fund operators are richly illuminating." --New York Times
This is an invaluable, applied "how to" guide to understanding the unique characteristics of the international business environment that provides critical information to all managers considering entering an overseas market. The global marketplace is a reality, yet there are virtually no books dedicated to understanding the international business environment. The accessible, practitioner-oriented information in this book provides businesspeople with the tools necessary to accurately analyze the complex global environment and the perspective to be successful in international markets. A resource for business managers as well as for college-level business students, the book covers all major areas of the international business environment, including the cultural aspects of international commerce environments as well as economic, political, and competitive challenges. Additionally, the author explains how a business entity can impact the market environment in which it operates.
Prized recipes and tales of home, work, and family—from the immigrant vendor-chefs of NYC’s first and favorite night market On summer Saturday nights in Queens, New York, mouthwatering scents from Moldova to Mexico fill the air. Children play, adults mingle . . . and, above all, everyone eats. Welcome to the Queens Night Market, where thousands of visitors have come to feast on amazing international food—from Filipino dinuguan to Haitian diri ak djon djon. The World Eats Here brings these incredible recipes from over 40 countries to your home kitchen—straight from the first- and second-generation immigrant cooks who know them best. With every recipe comes a small piece of the American story: of culture shock and language barriers, of falling in love and following passions, and of family bonds tested then strengthened by cooking. You’ll meet Sangyal Phuntsok, who learned to make dumplings in a refugee school for Tibetan children; now, his Tibetan Beef Momos with Hot Sauce sell like hotcakes in New York City. And Liia Minnebaeva will blow you away with her Bashkir Farm Cheese Donuts—a treat from her childhood in Oktyabrsky in western Russia. Though each story is unique, they all celebrate one thing: Food brings people together, and there’s no better proof of that than the Queens Night Market, where flavors from all over the world can be enjoyed in one unforgettable place.
By the early 1980s the average American had a lower standard of living than the average Norwegian or Dane. Standards of living in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria also rivaled those in the United States. How have seven small democracies achieved economic success and what can they teach America? In Small States in World Markets, Peter Katzenstein examines the successes of these economically vulnerable nations of Western Europe, showing that they have managed to stay economically competitive while at the same time preserving their political institutions. Too dependent on world trade to impose protection, and lacking the resources to transform their domestic industries, they have found a third solution. Their rapid and flexible response to market opportunity stems from what Katzenstein calls "democratic corporatism," a mixture of ideological consensus, centralized politics, and complex bargains among politicians, merest groups, and bureaucrats. Democratic corporatism is the solution these nations have developed in response to the economic crises of the 1930s and 1940s, the liberal international economy established after World War II, and the volatile markets of more recent years. Katzenstein maintains that democratic corporatism is an effective way of coping with a rapidly changing world, a more effective way than the United States and several other large industrial countries have yet managed to discover.
This book is intended to assist managers newly assigned to meaningful international responsibilities those with established positions, but looking for a primer on market-entry strategies, trade documentation, and the protection of a firm's international cash position. This short pragmatic text guides managers through the fundamental decisions necessary to access and serve new markets. The text also serves as a reference for the more granular' issues of trade finance. In the context of increasing levels of globalization and cross-border competition, the focus is on how managers can best position their firms for long-term sustainable profitability.
"Impressive... This is an evidence-based bottom-up account of the realities of globalisation. It is more varied, more subtle, and more substantial than many of the popular works available on the subject." -- Financial Times Based on a five-year study by the MIT Industrial Performance Center, How We Compete goes into the trenches of over 500 international companies to discover which practices are succeeding in today’s global economy, which are failing –and why. There is a rising fear in America that no job is safe. In industry after industry, jobs seem to be moving to low-wage countries in Asia, Central America, and Eastern Europe. Production once handled entirely in U.S. factories is now broken into pieces and farmed out to locations around the world. To discover whether our current fears about globalization are justified, Suzanne Berger and a group of MIT researchers went to the front lines, visiting workplaces and factories around the world. They conducted interviews with managers at more than 500 companies, asking questions about which parts of the manufacturing process are carried out in their own plants and which are outsourced, who their biggest competitors are, and how they plan to grow their businesses. How We Compete presents their fascinating, and often surprising, conclusions. Berger and her team examined businesses where technology changes rapidly–such as electronics and software–as well as more traditional sectors, like the automobile industry, clothing, and textile industries. They compared the strategies and success of high-tech companies like Intel and Sony, who manufacture their products in their own plants, and Cisco and Dell, who rely primarily on outsourcing. They looked closely at textile and clothing to uncover why some companies, including the Gap and Liz Claiborne, choose to outsource production to foreign countries, while others, such as Zara and Benetton, base most operations at home. What emerged was far more complicated than the black-and-white picture presented by promoters and opponents of globalization. Contrary to popular belief, cheap labor is not the answer, and the world is not flat, as Thomas Friedman would have it. How We Compete shows that there are many different ways to win in the global economy, and that the avenues open to American companies are much wider than we ever imagined. SUZANNE BERGER is the Raphael Dorman and Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science at MIT and director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative. She was a member of the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity, whose report Made in America analyzed weaknesses and strengths in U.S. industry in the 1980s. She lives in Boston , Massachusetts.
