cover image The Silent War: Inside the Global Business Battles Shaping America's Future

The Silent War: Inside the Global Business Battles Shaping America's Future

Ira Magaziner, Ira Magaziner, Mark Patinkin. Random House (NY), $19.95 (415pp) ISBN 978-0-394-56979-6

World War III is already under way and the United States stands a good chance of losing it, claim business consultant Magaziner and Providence Journal columnist Patinkin. American business, focusing on quick profit rather than long-term progress, is falling behind in research and development, the heart of new product discovery. Unlike young people of other nations, American youth is not drawn to science and technology. Finally, American planners often do not think in global terms, remaining complacent about the fact that they have the world's biggest market at home. The authors document the rise of Korea's Samsung in microwave ovens, Europe's Airbus in aircraft production and Japan in photovoltaics to make their point. This is a study that U.S. business leaders can ignore only at their peril. First serial to Harvard Business Review; author tour. (Mar.)