The Invisible Continent: Four Strategic Imperatives of the New Economy - Hardcover

Ohmae, Kenichi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060197536 ISBN 13: 9780060197537

Publisher: Harperbusiness, 2000

Synopsis

The former chairman of McKinsey & Company expands on his theory of "borderless economies" to discuss the "invisible continent" emerging outside of the traditional government jurisdiction of business. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

Kenichi Ohmae's invisible continent is a moving, unbounded world, consisting of four dimensions: There's what you can see (old economy commerce, like bricks-and-mortar retail); a borderless world in which capital moves around, chasing the best products and the highest investment returns regardless of national origin; the cyber-world, which has changed not only the way we do business but the way we interact on a personal level; and the high multiples awarded to new economy stocks, which are the basis of not only present wealth but what anyone with a retirement plan hopes will be future comfort.

By Ohmae's reckoning, the invisible continent was born in 1985. Microsoft released Windows 1.0, CNN launched, Cisco Systems began, the first Gateway 2000 computers were shipped, and companies like Sun Microsystems and Dell were in their infancies. Back then, the economic outlook was gloomy and few saw this embryonic continent forming. Now, of course, it affects virtually every business. Ohmae throws his arms around the entire continent and looks at how decisions are made on the invisible continent (the "platforms" which are created by businesses rather than governments), how money moves around the globe, how old-economy monoliths can become new economy Godzillas, and even how all of it might collapse. (Imagine that the Euro overtakes the dollar as the currency of choice; arbitrageurs "short" American currency; inflation soars; the stock market crashes.) The Invisible Continent is a bold and visionary attempt to not only explain the present, but project the future. (Bill Gates as UN secretary-general? It could happen.) The possibilities he raises--good and bad--are equally mind-blowing. More important are the practical questions that arise: Who's running this new continent? To what end? And for whom? We'll have to wait and see what the real answers are. But for now, Ohmae's speculation is nothing short of fascinating. --Lou Schuler

Review

'...he has plenty of stimulating and radical ideas about things that governments ought to be doing about education, about the gap between the rich and the poor, and about how companies may bst explore and even profit from the dangers of the new world order.' -- Financial Times, 4th September, 2000

One of the country's best business thinkers -- U.S. Journal of Business Strategy

Edition details

• Publisher: Harperbusiness
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060197536
• ISBN 13: 9780060197537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 262