New frontiers in free trade

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Graham Dunkley

The gulf between rich and poor countries in the 21st century has never been wider and there are more abjectly poor people in the world than ever before. This work looks at this economic policy issue, arguing that trade has become complex, deregulated and divorced from development.

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Cyrus Freidheim

Beyond the multinational corporation - even beyond the mega-corporation built from aggressive mergers and acquisitionsa new form of global business is emerging, and it is changing the competitive landscape forever. In his book, The Trillion-Dollar Enterprise, Cyrus Freidheim offers a front-row seat to this seismic shift, through which a few dominant enterprises will control two-thirds of the global market in their respective industries. But they won't be corporations as we've known them. They will be vast networks of corporate alliances - global coalitions of independent firms acting in concert as single entities, and combining assets that exceed the entire output of many nations. From the global stage, Freidheim takes us deep into the heart of "Trillion-Dollar Enterprises" in development, identifying the key elements of successful network formation, and outlining new roles and responsibilities for managers, executives, teams, and boards. Freidheim ultimately calls for revolutionary changes in how business leaders should be educated and rewarded, as the skills of diplomacy and negotiation take priority over functional expertise. In his provocative conclusion, Freidheim takes us twenty-five years into the future to explore looming public policy issues as the forces of commercial globalization and political sovereignty collide, challenging existing paradigms of anti-trust, trade, and labor policies - and even national security.

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Karl Albrecht

Is your company on a clear track to the future, with a defined goal that sets its direction and with determined employees powering its engine? Or is it stumbling toward whatever comes next, dragged along by circumstance, or "staying the course" out of fear? Karl Albrecht, renowned business thinker and co-author of the bestseller Service America!, challenges today's business leaders to embark on a journey on The Northbound Train. His northbound train is a metaphor for achieving a focused vision of the direction your company must take to succeed and then moving inexorably toward that goal. And as Albrecht shows, this vision must always be based upon an understanding of what will create value for your customers. In The Northbound Train Albrecht provides a step-by-step guide to soul searching, strategy setting, and customer wooing. Using insightful, real-world examples of effective and ineffective processes, he helps you map out a path - a strategic success model - that your company must follow to find out what makes its business unique. He illustrates how to formulate a reality-based vision; define your company's core values and philosophy; create a company mission statement that is accurate, concise, and inspiring; evaluate your competitive strategy to see if it's based on real strengths; reach a unified concept for creating value for your customers; and distill these decisions, finally, into a few critical areas of focus. Of course, all this thinking and planning is useless if the people in your organization are not "on board." Albrecht explains that "the leader must help people in the organization understand and commit to the vision. And the leader must help them learn to do what it takes to make the vision a reality." The author provides advice for exactly how to lead your company (or your portion of the company) in the right direction and how to reward employees based on their real, verifiable contributions to that end-of-the-track goal. Is your company ready to board the northbound train? The trip requires just three things: the eagerness to ask fundamental business questions, the courage to listen to the answers and face what must be done, and the stamina to keep at it until the necessary changes take place. The Northbound Train will stock you with the provisions you need to be successful: the inspiration of a great business thinker and a process for keeping on track.

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Ian Chaston

Baby boomers (consumers in the 50+ age bracket) are the wealthiest, fastest growing consumer group in the world. Despite this, the vast majority of marketing spend is focused on much younger people. Recessions always dampen consumer spending, but in the 21st century's first recession, the decline in spending among the younger age group has been amplified by excessive borrowing and collapsing house prices. More so than ever before, the current global recession highlights the need for firms to revise their marketing strategies and practices in order to remain competitive. In this book, Ian Chaston uses original case material to propose strategic solutions that take advantage of the moneyed segments of the maturing boomer market. Key topics covered include: Marketing errors made by UK banks in the current global crisis Market researchCustomer targeting Marketing strategies and pricing innovationPromotion and distribution A world first, Boomer Marketing is useful for students of marketing and consumer behaviour and is essential reading for practitioners who understand the need for money-oriented marketing. Additional lecturer material available at www.routledge.com/9780415489638