Going Global: Four Entrepreneurs Map the New World Marketplace

Not since the 15th century, when discoverers plied the oceans, has there been change to compare with the expanding global economy. The prize this time is not land but market share, and the corporations staking claims advance not in ships but via information-age technology. Continuing the discoverer metaphor, Taylor and Webber, former editors of the Harvard Business Review and co-founders of Fast Company magazine, chart the voyage into the future through interviews with four trailblazers who have tested the currents and learned to navigate them--officers from Whirlpool, McKinsey & Co.'s Tokyo office, Nestle and Kleiner Perkins. Their stories abound with adventure and conquest, from launching a political movement in Japan to helping a consultant escape from wartorn Croatia. We're told that national boundaries are less important now than market regions and that, increasingly, companies are rating governments, rewarding with their investments those most favorable to business. Business leaders interested in the changing world economy will find plenty of useful tips here. (July)