Cover image for Beyond free trade : firms, governments, and global competition
Title:
Beyond free trade : firms, governments, and global competition
Publication Information:
Boston, MA : Harvard Business School Press, 1993
ISBN:
9780875843445
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30000003351982 HF71.B49 1993 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Beyond Free Trade grew from the conviction of David B. Yoffie and some of his colleagues that current debates about world trade are missing the depth and complexity of the tremendous changes taking place in the international economy. In looking at firms that actually move goods, services and capital around the world, the authors incorporate research on industries that cut across all spectrums: high-tech (telecommunications, computers and semiconductors); low-tech (bearings, automobiles and construction equipment); services (insurance); manufacturing; and raw materials. They argue that the invisible hand of Adam Smith and David Ricardo is being replaced by the guiding hands of multinational corporations and governments. As a result, politicians and firms now have the opportunity to structure global competition in new ways.


Reviews 1

Booklist Review

Yoffie, a Harvard professor of business, government, and competition, goes beyond the current heated and sometimes emotional debate over free trade to analyze the underlying factors that decide what products get made where and sent to whom. Along with his colleagues, he takes a scholarly, empirical look at three changes they have detected in the structure of international competition: the changes in the direction and origin of goods and services, the change in the pattern of capital flows and the role of firms, and the greater role of government in international transactions. The effect of these changes is then investigated in eight different industries as diverse as insurance, bearings, and telecommunications. Their analysis suggests that more is involved in trade dynamics than the country-based explanation recently proposed by Michael Porter in his influential Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990). Yoffie warns that only after understanding the complicated determinants of international trade can strategies and policies be developed. Recommended for academic and large public library business and public policy collections. ~--David Rouse