Asia rising

The extraordinary economic success of East and Southeast Asia over the last forty years, and the likelihood that this success will continue during the next twenty-five years and expand to India, is one of the great events of the second half of the twentieth century. In one of the year's most provocative business books, Jim Rohwer argues that the wealth generated by Asia's resurrection will create tides of business and financial opportunities for Western companies and their workers. Drawing on examples from throughout the region, Rohwer shows how governments that combine free-market economic policies and very limited welfare benefits have unleashed the creative and adaptive abilities of their citizens, in the process creating huge new middle classes of consumers. China has already begun to follow in its neighbors' footsteps, and India is poised to do the same: together these two giants, whose fate will sway that of all of Asia, will be the engines that drive Asia's economic expansion into the twenty-first century. How will Western, and in particular American, firms fare in the competition for Asia's booming business? Assessing the relative strengths and weaknesses of American, European, Japanese, and South Korean multinationals, Rohwer finds that many American firms hold some critical advantages, including an ability to adapt to the cultures of Asia and to the diverse methods by which business is conducted in that part of the world. Overall, American companies appear well situated to profit handsomely from Asia's growing demand for financial, construction, and other services.