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In a stunning rebuke to a large group of
naysayers, Jim Rohwer convincingly argues that the Asian
financial crisis of 1997-1998 was not a turn for the worse;
rather it was short-lived and helped rid Asian markets of
many of the problems that were holding them back. Now, while
most analysts go wild over the American economy, Rohwer
provides the key insights into why America is due for a
slowdown while Asia is poised for tremendous growth and
opportunity.
Jim Rohwer has long experience in Asia as
both a journalist and a business executive. The highly informed
account in Remade in America comes from his own on-the-ground
observation and analysis, as well as knowing all the major
players in business, government, and the media in both America
and Asia. Telling, in-depth interviews with people ranging
from Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore,
and Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric, result in deep
insights into Asia's great potential.
The future of Asia is as much about the
United States as it is about Asia, for the forces that revolutionized
the American economy in the last twenty years provide the
clues for what is to come in Asia. The key to Asian growth
is understanding how Asian companies have learned from the
strengths of both American and Asian business models. Remade
in America clearly charts how Asian industries have
started managing themselves based on American standards
of corporate, technological, and economic performance that
began to be adopted in the late 1990s, while incorporating
their own strengths of cooperative corporate and social
organization.
Asia is ideally suited to take advantage
of the Internet revolution, and we are only now starting
to see its enormous potential in this area. Rohwer's insightful
analysis of Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southwest
Asia shows how, as these countries start to combine the
ruthlessly efficient market democracy and accountability
that America pioneered with the Asian domination of dispersed
manufacturing and assembly of components, there will be
major opportunities both for American corporations and for
investors. In addition, technology will not only enable
Asian economies to improve on their traditional strengths,
it will also help Asia greatly improve its traditional performance
in services and distribution.
Remade in America is a provocative
and useful book, not only for those with direct business
interests in Asia but also for readers who want an informed
look at this dynamic and important part of the world. There
will be a new Asia, Inc., one in which such matters as finance
and technology will be handled in an American way while
people will be managed along Asian lines in their interactions
-- a powerful combination that we ignore at our peril.
Jim Rohwer is a senior contributing editor
at Fortune magazine and a private consultant who
has lived in Hong Kong since 1991. He was previously editor
and publisher of Asia, Inc., executive editor of
The Economist, and a chief economist for Asia in
the Hong Kong office of CS First Boston. He has a J.D. from
Harvard Law School and a M.A. in economics from the University
of California, Berkeley. His website is jimrohwer.com.
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