The Secret Empire: How 25 Multinationals Rule the World - Hardcover

Lowe, Janet

9781556235139: The Secret Empire: How 25 Multinationals Rule the World

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1556235135 ISBN 13: 9781556235139

Publisher: Irwin Professional Pub, 1992

Lowe explores the dangers of global oligopolies and their ability to wrest control away from governments, manipulate the flow of currency, set prices, sway political policy, and change the fundamental nature of countries in which they do business. She also tells how they spread technology, medical discoveries, and other social advances, and even enhance world peace. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Inroads made by such corporations as Fiat, General Motors and IBM into the economy of the U.S.S.R. before its political collapse helped to assure the failure of the coup and the survival of glasnost and perestroika, contends Lowe, former financial editor of the San Diego (Calif.) Tribune. This wide-ranging, compelling study of a global political-industrial-military complex is based on aggressive research and extensive travel. Lowe stresses the importance of making citizens understand how to adapt to the good and bad effects of what she terms an irreversible trend toward oligopoly, whose growth--through acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures--she traces through the mid-'80s. Multinationals, she charges, influence and often control the policies and politicians of their own countries and the foreign nations where they operate. However, the author counters, their reach can be constructive: multinationls employ millions of people, contribute to public services in the communities where they do business and are responsible for life-enhancing advances in science and medicine. In return, they expect governments to provide a stable business climate. Capitalistic states, she concludes, "will have to reinvent themselves" to survive in the world economy's new structure.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Lowe, a business journalist and educator, explores the many ways that huge "meganational" corporations have entrenched themselves throughout the world. By virtue of their size, diverse operations, and the uncanny knack to survive, these titans of industry, like IBM and Nestle, are able to influence the public sector and our private lives. Meganationals squash the competition and outmaneuver the government. But big companies also foot the bill for technological advances, pay higher salaries, and offer more job security. While many people will agree that the IBMs of this world are untouchable, libraries may want to have on hand an alternate viewpoint. For instance, Michael Porter's The Competitive Advantage of Nations ( LJ 6/1/90) postulates that globalization will actually increase competition. Overall, Lowe's book will appeal to students of international business as well as the general public. Recommended.
- Kris Swank, American Graduate Sch. of International Management Lib., Glendale, Ariz.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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