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The Next Global Stage
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The Next Global Stage

Challenges and Opportunities in a Borderless World

Kenichi Ohmae
Wharton School Publishing, 2005
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

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Recommendation

This book is part reflection and part promotion. Author Kenichi Ohmae not only reflects on the course of globalization, but also takes the time to promote his distance-learning business and spotlight some of his friends. Ohmae, recently named advisor to Liaoning Province, particularly praises the province’s former governor. Some of Ohmae’s reflections are valuable bedrock information about globalization, but some seem curiously dated. He describes how surprised he was when he learned that people with whom he was dining had "Googled" him and could speak knowledgably about his life and work. He explains how capital moves unimpeded around the world, notes that ATMs and credit cards are important new mechanisms, and introduces a new business class whose members attended similar schools and all speak English. He teaches that regions should not cut themselves off from the flow of international capital and ideas, but instead should tap into it. Japan should be less protectionist and less centralized. And, yes, China is growing rapidly but treats workers horribly. getAbstract.com recommends this book to those who are new to globalization and need a prompt understanding of these fundamentals, plus ample background information and a bonus of more sophisticated interpretive insights (just not enough of them).

Summary

Global Stage

Once, the world was like Broadway - a place of many theaters. No longer. Now the world is like one great stage. China’s show spills over into Finland; Ireland’s brogue is heard in India. Technological advances have made it easy for information, ideas, capital and intellectual labor to move quickly across formerly difficult borders. The impact this shift has on the world is almost impossible to exaggerate. The fall of the Soviet empire, the end of Communism, the rise of China, and the redefinition of jobs, corporations, economics and political science - all depend on technology.

To illustrate, consider the 2003 performance of Ireland’s Riverdance in Beijing, China’s Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square. This dance troupe focuses on Irish traditional jigs and music, but its show includes acts featuring Japanese drums, flamenco and contemporary dance. The premier personally invited the troupe to China, and the Chinese media gave it prominent coverage. But Riverdance is not only a dance troupe. It is a metaphor for the new globalism. Riverdance combines influences from all over the world, and contemporary global communities must do the same thing. ...

About the Author

Kenichi Ohmae is one of the world’s leading strategists, and the author of more than 100 books, including The Mind of the Strategist, The Borderless World, The End of the Nation State and The Invisible Continent. The Dean of the Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Management of BBT University in Japan, he was named the advisor of China’s Liaoning Province and Tianjin City in September 2002.

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