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In his groundbreaking new book, America's
leading trend forecaster and the number one international
bestselling author of Megatrends and Megatrends
2000 cuts through the welter of confusing data and opinion
to identify and explain the single most momentous global
development of the 1990s -- one that affects the future
for all of us. In Megatrends Asia, John Naisbitt
reveals the significant business, political, social, and
cultural changes that are transforming the nations of that
region into an economic colossus that will soon become a
dominant force in the rest of the world.
Writing with the combination of acute perceptions
and broad sweep of his previous Megatrends bestsellers,
Naisbitt describes the dramatic events that are now taking
place in Asia as once isolated nation-states expand their
individual economies and develop a powerful new synergy
that works to their mutual benefit. Although the United
States continues to focus on Europe, Naisbitt shows why
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of the
European Community cannot match in importance the modernization
of Asia and the profound impact it will have on American
business. Within five years, he writes, Asia's combined
gross national product will be double that of Europe and
will represent one third of the entire world economy. In
the twenty-first century Asia will become both our major
competitor and the major consumer of American goods and
services.
Among the major trends that herald this
remarkable transformation are the shift from the primacy
of nation-states to business networks, from export-led economies
to consumer-driven economies, and from labor-intensive industries
to high technology. Add to these the social changes evolving
from increased individualism, rapid urbanization, and the
emergence of women, and it becomes clear in which direction
Asia is heading. But while it has been quick to adapt Western
technologies, Naisbitt explains, Asia has rejected the Western
political and social formulations that run counter to its
own heritage and traditions. Asia is modernizing in "the
Asia way."
All of these megatrends will profoundly
influence the way Asia does business with the West -- and
the way America does business with Asia. There are unprecedented
opportunities and, Naisbitt warns, enormous challenges.
An astute observer of the Asian scene for three decades,
he spells out these pitfalls and opportunities, drawing
upon a wide range of informed sources and his own interviews
with political leaders, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and
businessmen and -women of many nations. With his unmatched
gift for describing complex issues and events in lucid terms
without distortion or oversimplification, Naisbitt is once
again in the vanguard, forecasting a global shift of the
world's economic, political, and cultural center of gravity
that will have enormous consequences for us all.
John Naisbitt is world's leading trend
forecaster. He speaks annually to thousands of business
leaders and opinion makers in the Americas, Europe, and
Asia, and is the author of several bestselling books. He
divides his time between Telluride, Colorado; Cambridge,
Massachusetts; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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