A commendable, galvanizing, cautionary plea for increased consumer awareness that should inspire food-driven dialogue and...
A motivational text addresses how certain foods become addictive and problematic.
In his book, international marketing authority and scholar Graham (International Marketing: 17th Edition, 2015, etc.) holds the often deceptive marketing initiatives for certain addictive foods he calls “spices” (“that is, something you don’t need”) directly responsible for their rampant misuse, overreliance, and overconsumption. “Government regulation of these spices is a hodgepodge of path-dependent political decision making that yields destructive consequences for the public health and society in general,” he implores. Urgent in tone, Graham’s guidebook targets a highly addictive grouping of “psychoactive substances” that contain the kind of alluring “hedonic compounds” necessary to ensnare an unknowing public into not only buying them, but also becoming reliant on them to enjoy everyday life. He begins with a declarative chapter on the nature and the machinations of today’s aggressive marketing industry and how it attracts human consumption, causes repetitive consumer purchases, and, with the promotion of cleverly bioengineered chemical compounds, entertains “our brains.” The bulk of his book lies in the dissection of key addictive ingestibles, like salt, sugar, chocolate, caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol, and their deleterious effects. But potent, controlled drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and opium are also skewered by the outspoken, authoritative author who spares no fact or opinion during his discussion of each. In an impassioned introduction, Graham first writes about his own experience with these consumables. The worst of the lot is perhaps alcohol, which the author notes “nearly killed me as a teenager. Thrice.” Graphs, charts, and sound evidentiary and referential research bolster already worrisome statistics on things like salt intake, sugar, caffeine, and nicotine consumption and compulsion, and their myriad health consequences. He further denounces the marketers, companies, campaigns, and their manipulations of these key ingredients in a particularly conclusive and damning closing section. Graham’s provocative, impeccably researched, and informative book makes powerful declarative statements about the nature of food addictions and the many components that make up how and why people consume what they do. But because Graham is a marketing guru and not a medical professional, his claims and advice for change should be taken in moderation and further investigated by readers and advocates desiring the definitive answers tailored to their own physical conditions.
A commendable, galvanizing, cautionary plea for increased consumer awareness that should inspire food-driven dialogue and proactive discussion.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5372-8059-2
Page Count: 382
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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