Goodman is willing to ask difficult questions, and he amply demonstrates that low prices can come with high costs.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of supply chains, but this well-documented study shows how the problem has deep roots.
In this follow-up to Davos Man and Past Due, Goodman, a global economics correspondent for the New York Times, delves into the complex webs of technology, finance, production, and transport that underpin the global economy. He explains how the internet transformed the way that trade was organized, and it happened at about the same time that China started its explosive economic growth. The Chinese leadership became adept at gaming the rules of the World Trade Organization, but Goodman is also unforgiving of the thousands of American companies that rushed headlong into China looking for lower costs and higher profits. Another ingredient, pushed along by a class of ruthless consultants, was the move toward just-in-time inventory systems, which emphasized continual flow and limited stockpiling. The system was adequate, if not entirely smooth—until the pandemic hit and everything came to a shuddering halt. Shipping turned into a traffic jam, supermarket shelves emptied, and suddenly the drive for efficiency looked like a recipe for disaster. Even factories in Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Turkey, and other nations turned out to be dependent on inputs from China. Goodman systematically tracks his way through the issues, mixing economic analysis with interviews from the hardscrabble tiers of the infrastructure network. At the end of the book, the author advocates for a thorough rethinking of policy, calling for “a return to the mode of governance that prevailed in the United States from the end of World War II through the late 1970s.” Even though that shift is unlikely, this book should be in the hands of policymakers and economists before the next crisis emerges.
Goodman is willing to ask difficult questions, and he amply demonstrates that low prices can come with high costs.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780063257924
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Mariner Books
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
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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