A Panglossian pitch for the dubious proposition that Japan's so-called humanistic capitalism sets a classic example for Western industrial powers. Ozaki (Economics/California State at Hayward) may be on to something; at best, however, his tract earns a Scotch verdict, i.e., not proven. A naturalized American citizen, the author advances Japan's collaborative and consensual approach to commerce as a practicable alternative to the Darwinian ethos of traditional capitalism. By Ozaki's account, the paradigmatic system features corporations that compete as well as cooperate in organized rather than wholly free markets. Further, management and labor behave as though they, not stockholders, own the companies that employ them; executive pay-rates do not outstrip those of lower-echelon personnel by substantive margins; and decision-making is viewed as a shared responsibility, with every effort made to avoid layoffs. But Ozaki undermines his case with errors of omission and commission. For openers, he argues against concentrating economic power in the hands of the assumedly small number of fat cats who supply capital to business, overlooking the fact that most Americans are shareholders, if only by proxy. The author also has an outmoded concept of labor, largely ignoring the reality that brawny blue-collar workers are an endangered species. Nor does he mention his homeland's elite civil service, W. Edwards Deming, incomes policy, and other individuals or institutions that deserve credit for making Japan Inc. a feared global competitor. As recent scandals in the Japanese banking, electronics, and securities industries attest, moreover, the island nation's capitalists may have to clean up their act before they take it on the road. Lastly, Ozaki's prose style is decidedly irritating, tending toward what could be characterized as the unattributed passive voice (``It may be held...''; ``We may argue...''; ``It is often pointed out..,'' etc.). An ingenuous but utterly unpersuasive exercise that uses neoclassical economic theory as a stalking horse for greater egalitarianism in the US workplace and marketplace.
Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1991
ISBN: 4-7700-1549-6
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Kodansha
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1991
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
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
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