¶ … Borderless World
Kenichi Ohmae is a business consultant and the author of various books including The Borderless World- Power and Strategy in the interlinked economy, which appeared in 1990, and deals with nature of business and economy in this era of rapid globalization. The main purpose of the book according to Ohmae is to illustrate the benefits of globalization by highlighting the role played by multi-nationals in creating and distributing choices. This purpose should make the book interesting enough for readers to read beyond the preface. Who doesn't want to know if globalization indeed has something positive to offer? With so much negative press, globalization truly deserves some positive comments and Ohmae undertakes this task but whether he succeeds or not is solely a matter of individual interpretation and perception. For some Ohmae is an expert whose views should be valued, but for others including myself, Ohmae often adopts the role of a smug consultant who assumes that each one of his readers would share his views and his negative image of governmental intervention. At one point in the Preface for example, the author comes upon with an original term The Interlinked Economy for the three powerful economies of USA, Japan and Europe and declares that these economies along with some growing Asian economies have together become such a powerful force that "it has swallowed most consumers and corporations, made traditional national borders almost disappear, and pushed bureaucrats, politicians, and the military toward the status of declining industries." p xi. Is that really so? Why does Ohmae think that his readers would share the same views because as far as my knowledge of governmental control is concerned, I believe,...
Taking one good look at recent governmental involvement in various economies including that of United States, I have to say I can't agree with Ohmae that government, bureaucrats and military have become 'declining industry'.
Throughout the books, Ohmae comes up with some highly original ideas and some completely cliched concepts but puts both forward with so much conviction that you cannot help but agree with him. It however takes some time to digest the concept, assess its validity, weigh its pros and cons and then decide whether it was actually sound to begin with. However all these concepts revolve around one central thesis: Globalization is good and national borders are no longer important and therefore governments should stop interfering and let global economy strengthen on its own. He maintains that global corporations have two important concerns, country and currency: "Most companies have to move more deeply into the countries where they seek to neutralize the impact of currency as well as the possibilities of protectionism." p.9 and therefore while global firms do their job, government must focus on its sole concern which is creation of jobs. That is true to certain extent, but even if we agree with Ohmae that the only objective of governments is to create jobs, wouldn't this automatically lead to involvement in other areas including production and labor movement to other countries etc. I cannot see how government can stick with creation of jobs without getting involved in other areas of business and economy.
Some of the concepts, as I…
