Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Growth in the Developing World
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Making True Revolution with Success
  • Insightful but too wordy
  • A refreshing guide to strategy in third world economies
  • terrific read
  • terrific read
Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Growth in the Developing World
Michael Fairbanks , and Stace Lindsay
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & CompetitionStrategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ManagementManagement | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Production & OperationsProduction & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Labor & Industrial RelationsLabor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
InternationalInternational | Harvard Business School Press | By Publisher | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Labor & Industrial RelationsLabor & Industrial Relations | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
  1. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
  2. The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks) The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks)
  3. Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value
  4. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time
  5. The Competitive Advantage of Nations The Competitive Advantage of Nations

ASIN: 0875847617

Book Description

The authors address the issue of competitiveness in the developing world. Using the Colombian cut-flower industry as a backdrop (and drawing from a variety of industries in Bolivia, Venezuela, and Peru), they identify seven core elements of the failed model of competitiveness in which much of the developing world appears to be trapped. These patterns include an over-reliance on basic production factors and natural resources, inadequate supplier and distributor relationships, and insufficient tools for performing customer and competitor analysis. In a challenge to conventional economic development theory and practice, Fairbanks and Lindsay propose an action framework, emphasizing strategic and microeconomic approaches to growth, based on a partnership between the public and private sectors. The authors argue that only by identifying common goals, committing to a long-term perspective, investing in human resources, and assigning new leadership roles for businesspeople and policymakers alike, can developing countries break out of the vicious cycle of underperformance.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Making True Revolution with Success.......2001-05-06

This is a complex and multidimensional book on many levels. This book is not really about what governments can do to help their countries develop. In fact, the word "development" hardly appears. It is about the unproductive relationship between government and the private sector that wastes time and other valuable resources in emerging economies. The authors hold both parties responsible for moving on.

As stated on the first page, Simon Bolivar's epitaph reads, "Whomsoever has worked for a revolution has plowed the sea." Meant by Bolivar to convey despair and the heartbreak of failure, these words are transformed by the authors who have maintained a sense of optimism and good humor throughout their own experiences in the rugged world of transformation consulting. The Introduction, the book's first substantive chapter, is a cautionary tale of the Colombian flower industry, that prospered globally for decades, but later declined and has not yet recovered. Through this "case", seven patterns of firm behavior that inhibits economic agility are identified. The first seven chapters of the book elaborate on these patterns, wonderfully illustrated with other cases (Peru's fishmeal and Bolivia's soy industry, for example). The authors describe a sort of bratty adolescence that traps companies and industries in emerging economies. Chapters 8 and 9 are a fine application of micro principles around the theme of strategy, again focused on the firm. The authors advocate the old-fashion but culture shattering step of focusing on customers, costs and competitors in order to guide and inform decisions about strategy, positioning and productivity. They offer information and learning as a way for firms to experience a "coming of age" in the competitive sense. The role of government in promoting economic transformation is not touched until Chapter 10, two-thirds of the way through the book. Chapter 10-12 are probably where readers will find the book a bit frustrating and repetitive. Not enough time is spent defining what the authors mean by "steering mechanisms". This is undoubtedly because the book assumes the reader already knows alot. Chapter 10 mostly illustrates shifts in steering mechanisms using the case of a wall-bouncing Bolivian government. Chapter 11 is almost singular for business books - there is an actual discussion of research and the presentation of data. It is a practitioners discussion, however, not an academic one, so potential readers can relax.

B-school vets and other warriors will recognize alot here as an application of Michael Porter's "diamond model" from his Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) and indeed, Porter writes the Foreword. The authors have extended the "diamond's" scope and reach, but their own model is not apparent until the end, Chapter 13. Their model for bringing about industry level change appears in the book's final four pages.

This book's protagonists are leaders in firms, industries and government, as well as their mindsets and actions. The word "leader" might be interpreted by some readers as "government" but this is not accurate. This book does do something extraordinary, however. On one hand, it is a blood and guts how-to on diagnosing and fixing the self-defeating decision making of firms in the emerging world. On the other hand, the conceptual framework within which political economics is practiced, debated, planned and evaluated is updated to reflect the fact that competitive advantage, not absolute or comparative advantage will increasingly referee the win/loss columns in the global economy. The context of political economics is addressed entirely without reference to ideology. This might strike some as soulless or arrogant. It might strike others as about time.

The writing in this book reflects a highly integrated understanding of business and economics, as well as intimate and affectionate knowledge of Latin American business and classical culture. Also apparent are the authors very fine liberal arts backgrounds, years on the road and a sense of mirth. Finally, these authors clearly know their work and thinking is culture altering and socially revolutionary. Their obvious goal is to realize the dream of Bolivar by capturing the minds of today's business, industry and government trend setters. While I would say their hearts are definitely not bleeding nor on their sleeves, their drive and focus are more uplifting than anything I have read or seen in a long time.

4 out of 5 stars Insightful but too wordy.......2000-05-09

A very insightful book about how countries as a whole compete in the world economy. It presents several interesting ideas about relative competitive strengths & weaknesses of nations and the source of these competitive positions.

The book falls short on readability. The authors could have conveyed the same message in half the pages. Often, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs and sections to find the ideas burried in all the verbiage.

I still rate it a 4 because of the importance of the topic covered and the insights contained in the book.

4 out of 5 stars A refreshing guide to strategy in third world economies.......1999-03-09

This book is a surprise. Very fun to read, very insightful and plenty of new ideas for doing business from emerging economies.

5 out of 5 stars terrific read.......1999-03-07

I found the book a terrific read. I think it is huge task for an developing country to grow out of the habits of being follower. It is not impossible, but the probablity is low, especially since most of these countries are not technologically savvy.

The book gives anyone from an emerging country some hope that they too can compete in this quickly advancing world.

Cheers

Victor

5 out of 5 stars terrific read.......1999-03-07

I found the book a terrific read. I think it is huge task for an developing country to grow out of the habits of being follower. It is not impossible, but the probablity is low, especially since most of these countries are not technologically savvy.

The book gives anyone from an emerging country some hope that they too can compete in this quickly advancing world.

Cheers

Victor
Sources of Chinese Economic Growth, 1978-1996 (Studies on Contemporary China)
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • A leftist growth theory by a sociologist
  • Demonstrates how the State caused China's growth
  • Brilliant study of the conditions of growth
Sources of Chinese Economic Growth, 1978-1996 (Studies on Contemporary China)
Chris Bramall
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Economic ConditionsEconomic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Business & Finance | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books
GeneralGeneral | Economics | Business & Finance | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books
All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0198296975

Book Description

This analysis of the political economy of growth in the era of Deng Xiaoping takes issue with the growth-accounting methodologies and market-centred explanations which characterize so much of the literature on transition-era China. By adopting an approach which echoes the pioneering work of Chalmers Johnson, Alice Amsden, and Robert Wade on other East Asian Economies, and which makes full use of the rich statistical materials that have become available since 1978, this book shows that Chinese growth was driven by a combination of state-led industrial policy and the favourable infrastructural legacies of the Maoist era. And in giving due weight to the sheer complexity of the growth process by looking in detail at the experience of four very different Chinese regions, it avoids over-simplistic macroeconomic generalization. Nevertheless, even this type of approach is inadequate, because it fails to explain why industrial policy has been so much more successful in China than in other countries. This book therefore goes beyond the 'development state' approach to argue that state autonomy in China reflected the remarkably equal distribution of income and wealth at the end of the 1970s and, paradoxically, the destruction of party structures and institutions during the Cultural Revolution. The policy implications are stark. The Chinese experience demonstrates that industrial policy and state spending on physical and social infrastructure can produce rich rewards; conversely, slavish reliance on foreign direct investment and trade are likely to limit the pace of growth. But attempts to replicate China's success in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia will fail because their governments will not resist rent-seeking by classes and interest groups. Moreover, as the state becomes weaker in the wake of the re-emergence of a powerful capitalist class, even Chinese growth may prove unsustainable.

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars A leftist growth theory by a sociologist.......2006-06-14

If a Nobel Prize for studying the Chinese economy was given to Chris Bramall, the Prize would worth nothing. His theory is essentially the same with those rightist economists: production inputs lead to economic growth. The only difference is, rightist economists still believe that incentives, efficency, factor mobility all matter. The one who actually got the Nobel Prize is Douglass North who reveals that economic growth is caused by institutions that favor production inputs, incentives, efficency, factor mobility, and property rights.

---Bramall argues that a combination of state-led industrial policy and the favorable legacies of industrialization, human capital (health and education), infrastructure, technology, and capital stock during the socialist era produced China's growth. He shows that industrialization was the key source of growth, and that foreign trade and foreign investment (Open Door policy) were less important than usually thought. Growth was not a result of trade liberalization, the end of socialism, unleashing the productive powers of capitalism, or backwards initial conditions at the end of the Maoist era. Bramall claimed that despite numerous positive influences (such as a restructured incentive system, foreign trade, R & D spending), the release of labor from agriculture reduced labor productivity and did not have a positive impact on China's economic growth, as if the release of labor won't increase total production.

Bramall shows that, in general, inequalities of property and wealth are the real obstacle to growth and improved living standards. The owners of capital, the ruling class, block economic progress. He concludes, "A radical and effective land reform coupled with an assault on private industrial capital are necessary preconditions for the implementation of successful state intervention in a developing country", and "for most countries, there is probably no alternative but the seizure of power by armed struggle."

Chris Bramall: Sources of Chinese Economic Growth, 1978-1996, (Oxford University Press, 2000).

5 out of 5 stars Demonstrates how the State caused China's growth.......2004-09-06

Bramall's book demonstrates conclusively that state planning and intervention, not markets, caused China's massive economic growth in the last quarter century.

Bramall shows how Mao did an excellent job of developing Chinese capability for growth through infrastructural development and building human capital. He refutes the myth that China was able to develop industrially because of a large amount of argicultural labor just sitting around. He shows that the surplus was created by the economic progress of the late seventies, leading to a decrease in the labor needed to produce a given output.

However, his argument that this release of labor didn't greatly contribute to growth fails. To excerpt a longer article I planned to write:

I will attempt to dissect Bramall's claim that the release of labor from agriculture reduced labor productivity and did not have a positive impact on China's economic growth (p.185). Bramall's argument largely rests on his assertion that, despite numerous positive influences (such as a restructured incentive system, foreign trade, R & D spending), labor productivity "only" increased by 6.5 percent per year. According to Bramall, something must have had an offsetting influence on these positive factors, and he pins the blame on the impact of labor transfers out of agriculture. Austrians, however, reject attempts to measure labor productivity on the grounds that the value of total output cannot be calculated. As Frank Stoshak says, "To calculate a total, several data sets must be added together. To be added, analytical rigor requires that they have some unit in common. But the 'non-farm business sector' includes a huge diversity of products and services; it is not possible to simply add these up and arrive at a total". The rest of Bramall's argument is just as flawed. He points out that those who migrated to industrial centers were resented by the local population. Some were paid lower incomes, and the local governments even restricted the the range of jobs in which they could be employed. Because of this and other factors, migrants ended up working at factories whose labor productivity was below average (pp. 185-6). While this may have lowered average productivity statistics, which Bramall's language surprisingly does not suggest [1], it could not have decreased total production. Picture a man who produces ten bushels of food per hour, and then picture another man who comes and produces five. Average productivity is depressed from 10 to 7.5 bushels of food per hour, but total production increased. Since Bramall's goal is to explain what did and did not contribute to the total growth in industrial production, his argument fails. The addition of worse workers need not even decrease the average, as the division of labor is extended.

The next biggest problem in Bramall's analysis is his account of the state rising aggregate demand in the agricultural sector. The state increased the prices they paid for grain, hopefully providing incentives to workers to use underutilized capacity. The biggest problem for Bramall's argument is the existence of an income effect, yet he barely devotes one line to it.

Bramall also decisively refutes the myth that the Open Door policy and international trade caused China's growth.

However, I would hesitate before drawing any interventionist policy implications from this book. Bramall shows that the extremely high growth rates in the past quarter century are a product of the state increasing social and infrastructural capability over nearly the entire century. A more indicative reading of the statistics should take into account the average growth for this whole period, as the same policy could not always yield the growth rates it did in its highest period (1978-96). When looked at as a more gradual growth over 50 or 100 years, China's achievement does not seem as great.

5 out of 5 stars Brilliant study of the conditions of growth.......2003-12-02

This important book provides both an intensive study of how and why the Chinese economy grew after 1978, and a wide-ranging discussion of the conditions of economic growth. He examines and refutes the simple, capitalist explanation for China's high rate of growth, that Mao's death in 1976 ended socialism, unleashing the productive powers of capitalism.

Bramall argues that a combination of state-led industrial policy and the favourable infrastructural legacies of the socialist era produced China's growth. He shows that industrialisation was the key source of growth, and that foreign trade and foreign investment were less important than usually thought.

He reminds us of the great achievements of the Chinese people under socialism - the spreading of industry, the tripling, between 1952 and 1978, of the area of China that was irrigated, the consistently high investment in the countryside, the development of a transport network, and the great improvements in health and education. He notes that in the 1950s and 1960s China was forced to adopt a strategy of defensive industrialisation in the face of threats from both the USA and the USSR.

In his general discussion of the conditions of economic growth, he shows that, "contra Nairn, Anderson, and others, the British problem is capitalism itself, not the persistence of pre-capitalist structures and institutions." Capitalist rapacity has always held back manufacturing industry, and is now destroying it. Britain is too capitalist, not too feudal. The `left', like Thatcher and the European Union, attack the wrong targets - the Constitution, the monarchy, the House of Lords, the landed gentry.

Bramall shows that, in general, inequalities of property and wealth are the real obstacle to growth and improved living standards. The owners of capital, the ruling class, block economic progress. He concludes, "A radical and effective land reform coupled with an assault on private industrial capital are necessary preconditions for the implementation of successful state intervention in a developing country" - not only in developing countries! To achieve these goals, "for most countries, there is probably no alternative but the seizure of power by armed struggle."
Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector: New Sources of Economic Growth
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector: New Sources of Economic Growth
    Jack E. Triplett , and Barry P. Bosworth
    Manufacturer: Brookings Institution Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    Economic ConditionsEconomic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    Economic ConditionsEconomic Conditions | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
    ProductivityProductivity | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
    All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
    ASIN: 0815783353

    Book Description

    The services industries—which include jobs ranging from flipping hamburgers to providing investment advice—can no longer be characterized, as they have in the past, as a stagnant sector marked by low productivity growth. They have emerged as one of the most dynamic and innovative segments of the U.S. economy, now accounting for more than three-quarters of gross domestic product. During the 1990s, 19 million additional jobs were created in this sector, while growth was stagnant in the goods-producing sector.

    Here, Jack Triplett and Barry Bosworth analyze services sector productivity, demonstrating that fundamental changes have taken place in this sector of the U.S. economy. They show that growth in the services industries fueled the post-1995 expansion in the U.S. productivity and assess the role of information technology in transforming and accelerating services productivity. In addition to their findings for the services sector as a whole, they include separate chapters for a diverse range of industries within the sector, including transportation and communications, wholesale and retail trade, and finance and insurance.

    The authors also examine productivity measurement issues, chiefly statistical methods for measuring services industry output. They highlight the importance of making improvements within the U.S. statistical system to provide the more accurate and relevant measures essential for analyzing productivity and economic growth.
    Economic Prospects of the CIS: Sources of Long Term Growth
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Economic Prospects of the CIS: Sources of Long Term Growth

      Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      InternationalInternational | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
      All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
      ASIN: 1843766159

      Book Description

      This book brings together ten original studies on the transition and growth experience and the foundations for long-term growth of the newly independent states created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

      Beginning with an overview of the common pre-1992 background and comparative information on the post-1992 performance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the authors continue by reviewing the Soviet background and post-independence experience. They then emphasize both the uniformity and diversity of the twelve CIS countries' recent history. The problem of explaining economic growth in transition economies is also explored, and individual in-depth country studies are presented.

      The contributors to the book are a combination of in-country researchers with in-depth local knowledge and access to data, and international economists with technical expertise and experience of long-term growth in other countries. This approach ensures the book's appeal to academics and researchers of economic growth, transition and comparative economics. Economists assigned to the region or any individual CIS country will find the analysis invaluable.
      Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and Sources of Growth (Studies in Productivity and Efficiency)
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and Sources of Growth (Studies in Productivity and Efficiency)

        Manufacturer: Springer
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

        GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        AgriculturalAgricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Science | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Medicine | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
        jp-unknown1jp-unknown1 | Specialty Stores | Books
        All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        Business & InvestingBusiness & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        MedicineMedicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        ProfessionalProfessional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        ScienceScience | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
        ASIN: 0792376226

        Book Description

        Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and Sources of Growth addresses measurement issues and techniques in agricultural productivity analysis, applying those techniques to recently published data sets for American agriculture. The data sets are used to estimate and explain state level productivity and efficiency differences, and to test different approaches to productivity measurement. The rise in agricultural productivity is the single most important source of economic growth in the U.S. farm sector, and the rate of productivity growth is estimated to be higher in agriculture than in the non-farm sector. It is important to understand productivity sources and to measure its growth properly, including the effects of environmental externalities. Both the methods and the data can be accessed by economists at the state level to conduct analyses for their own states. In a sense, although not explicitly, the book provides a guide to using the productivity data available on the website of the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Economic Research Service. It should be of interest to a broad spectrum of professionals in academia, the government, and the private sector.
        The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • A recommended pick for business and public lending libraries alike.
        • essential investment info
        • Great ideas for investors who want to make money AND protect the planet
        • Fantastic Book
        • The past, present, and future of Clean Tech and the companies and cities that are leading the way
        The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity
        Ron Pernick , and Clint Wilder
        Manufacturer: Collins
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

        GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        Natural ResourcesNatural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
        Renewable EnergyRenewable Energy | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
        Similar Items:
        1. Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry
        2. Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
        3. Renewable Energy Policy Renewable Energy Policy
        4. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
        5. Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America

        ASIN: 006089623X
        Release Date: 2007-06-12

        Book Description

        When industry giants such as GE, Toyota, and Sharp and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are making multibillion-dollar investments in clean technology, the message is clear. Developing clean technologies is no longer a social issue championed by environmentalists; it's a moneymaking enterprise moving solidly into the business mainstream. In fact, as the economy faces unprecedented challenges from high energy prices, resource shortages, and global environmental and security threats, clean tech—technologies designed to provide superior performance at a lower cost while creating significantly less waste than conventional offerings—promises to be the next engine of economic growth.

        In The Clean Tech Revolution, authors Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder identify the major forces that have pushed clean tech from back-to-the-earth utopian dream to its current revolution among the inner circles of corporate boardrooms, on Wall Street trading floors, and in government offices around the globe. By highlighting eight major clean-tech sectors—solar energy, wind power, biofuels and biomaterials, green buildings, personal transportation, the smart grid, mobile applications, and water filtration—they uncover how investors, entrepreneurs, and individuals can profit from this next wave of technological innovation. Pernick and Wilder shine the spotlight on the winners among technologies, companies, and regions that are likely to reap the greatest benefits from clean tech—and they show you why the time to act is now.

        Groundbreaking and authoritative, The Clean Tech Revolution is the must-read book to understand and profit from the clean technologies that are reshaping our fast-changing world.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars A recommended pick for business and public lending libraries alike........2007-10-18

        THE CLEAN TECH REVOLUTION: THE NEXT BIG GROWTH AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY tells of how the clean tech industry is moving into becoming a moneymaking enterprise for businesses, and comes from authors who identify the major forces which have influenced the development of these changes. Eight major clean-tech sectors, from solar energy and wind power to green buildings and mobile applications, are surveyed as the authors consider both the history and economic opportunities inherent in clean tech approaches. A recommended pick for business and public lending libraries alike.

        Diane C. Donovan
        California Bookwatch

        5 out of 5 stars essential investment info.......2007-08-23

        This collection of information is essential reading for anyone who wants to know the future of our economy and world economic conditions. The book clearly lays out the various scenarios facing clean tech at a time when this entire sector is taking off. The way the info is presented is concise, documented and connected to other useful follow-up links. It strikes the right balance between and investment guide approach and a general assessment of the technology field.

        I'm really glad I bought this book and will use it as a tool for gathering more knowledge about these essential industries as well as the challenges facing us resulting from climate change, oil depletion and international resource instability.

        J. Marshall Gilmore, energy consultant and attorney

        4 out of 5 stars Great ideas for investors who want to make money AND protect the planet.......2007-08-16

        This book is written in accessible language, easy to understand and not too "techy". It clearly lays out the trends and opportunities for investing in clean energy technologies like solar, wind, and biofuels. For those of us who truly care about the environment and also want to have a secure retirement (or even retire early), this book is packed with information that I was able to take action on immediately.

        5 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book.......2007-08-06

        A great read for anyone interested in learning about the cleantech industry, even if, like myself, you already work in this rapidly developing industry.

        5 out of 5 stars The past, present, and future of Clean Tech and the companies and cities that are leading the way.......2007-07-29

        From my blog "Green is Good":


        The Clean Tech Revolution is a book that covers the most dramatic industrial shift in more than a century. This book is authored by members of the clean tech consultancy, Clean Edge, and I highly recommended it to anyone looking to learn about the past, present, and future of clean technology, as well as learning about the companies and cities that are the leaders of this emerging industry.

        Here are some of the highlights:

        * Audience - The book is great read for anyone who is a potential stakeholder - entrepreneurs, consumers, investors, government officials, and executives will all learn something new after reading this.
        * Organized for easy reference - The book was well organized - anyone looking to learn about one or two particular technologies can jump around to a chapter on the technology they are looking for as the book has individual chapters on wind, solar, biofuels, transportation, green building, the grid, and more.
        * "Ten to Watch" - Each chapter has a list of the company's that are leading that sector - the company names can be found at the Clean Tech Revolution blog.
        * Clean Tech Cities - There is an entire chapter dedicated to developing cities and regions to become clean tech hubs, and like the technology chapters there is a list of the leading clean tech cities. I am hoping we here in Pittsburgh can someday learn how to emulate some of the cities that made the list. Portland and Austin come to mind.
        * Marketing Clean Tech - The do's and don't's for marketing these technologies. There are decades worth of case studies of flawed marketing of solar and other environmental friendly technologies.
        * Verdict - Definitely a great book for you if you are reading this here blog. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a broad sweeping overview or reference book of the industry. There are several good books available that are more focused on particular industries like oil, electricity, solar, and even green business. I will be reviewing a few of these in the upcoming months.

        Some other things to note: It was nice to read that the authors of the book were in agreement with a lot of the things I have posted on here, particularly my position against corn based ethanol. I also agree with the authors that shifting subsidies from "entrenched" conventional energy companies to those producing renewable energies would be the easiest way to support further growth and adaptation of renewables, and I agree with them that sin taxes are another sensible way to fund these initiatives.
        Emerging Patterns of Innovation: Sources of Japan's Technological Edge (The Management of Innovation and Change)
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Emerging Patterns of Innovation: Sources of Japan's Technological Edge (The Management of Innovation and Change)
          Fumio Kodama
          Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

          Strategy & CompetitionStrategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          ManagementManagement | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          Production & OperationsProduction & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          InternationalInternational | Harvard Business School Press | By Publisher | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          ManagementManagement | Harvard Business School Press | By Publisher | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          New Business EnterprisesNew Business Enterprises | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Science | Subjects | Books
          General & ReferenceGeneral & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
          All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
          ASIN: 0875844375

          Book Description

          The nature of technological innovation is such that no company or nation can remain dominant forever. What is more, according to Fumio Kodama, we are entering an unprecedented age of mutual learning. In order to leverage our collective knowledge, we must create a common language to describe the innovation process. Kodama makes an invaluable contribution to that learning in Emerging Patterns of Innovation, in which he applies rigorous scientific measurement, historical perspective, and in-depth case studies to outline a model for how Japanese high-tech firms manage innovation and devise their technology strategies. The result is an analysis from which companies-and governments-all over the world can draw enduring lessons.

          Kodama uses the concept of a techno-paradigm shift to express the radical changes in the way technology has been and continues to be developed, applied, and commercialized over time. In analyzing data gathered over ten years of intensive research and study of Japanese firms, he distinguishes six dimensions along which the shift is occurring: manufacturing, business diversification, R&D competition, product development, innovation pattern, and societal diffusion of technology. He illuminates his discussion of each dimension with a profile of specific technologies and the companies that have advanced them, including consumer electronics (Sony and Toshiba), fiber optic cables (Sumitomo Electric), computers and communications equipment (NEC), machine tools (Fanuc), and automobile parts (Honda, Toyota, and Nissan).

          Has Japan deliberately developed its social, political, and economic environments to enable the efficient generation, innovation, and diffusion of technologies to match the techno-paradigm shift? Kodama's empirical analysis suggests the opposite -- that the techno-paradigm shift, driven by rapid evolution in science and engineering, naturally favors the Japanese system.

          The concepts presented in Emerging Patterns of Innovation not only have implications for the competitive strategies of non-Japanese firms and the economic policies of their corresponding nations, but could also help promote important international alliances in technological development at both the business and the national levels. In particular, Kodama describes his vision of option sharing, through which it is possible to resolve the tensions between international cooperation and national autonomy as well as to promote a nonprotectionist, "plus-sum game" in technological innovation that would benefit the world as a whole. The Management of Innovation and Change Series.
          Sources of Growth in Latin America. What Is Missing?
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Sources of Growth in Latin America. What Is Missing?

            Manufacturer: Inter-American Development Bank
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback

            Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            ComparativeComparative | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: 1597820164

            Product Description

            Declining per capita income in Latin America relative to that in other countries has generated concerns about the region’s capacity to raise its living standards substantially. This comprehensive overview examines the growth process in Latin America and promotes urgently needed transformations to ensure the region’s long-term economic success.
            The Sources of Economic Growth
            Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
            • This book is OK!
            The Sources of Economic Growth
            Richard R. Nelson
            Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback

            Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Economic ConditionsEconomic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            TheoryTheory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Economic ConditionsEconomic Conditions | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            IndustrialIndustrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            General & ReferenceGeneral & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
            All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            Business & InvestingBusiness & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            ScienceScience | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            Similar Items:
            1. New Perspectives on Economic Growth and Technological Innovation New Perspectives on Economic Growth and Technological Innovation
            2. Technological Innovation and Economic Performance. Technological Innovation and Economic Performance.
            3. Technology, Learning, and Innovation: Experiences of Newly Industrializing Economies Technology, Learning, and Innovation: Experiences of Newly Industrializing Economies
            4. Technology, Institutions, and Economic Growth Technology, Institutions, and Economic Growth
            5. The Oxford Handbook of Innovation (Oxford Handbooks) The Oxford Handbook of Innovation (Oxford Handbooks)

            ASIN: 0674001729

            Book Description

            Technological advance is the key driving force behind economic growth, argues Richard Nelson. Investments in physical and human capital contribute to growth largely as handmaidens to technological advance. Technological advance needs to be understood as an evolutionary process, depending much more on ex post selection and learning than on ex ante calculation. That is why it proceeds much more rapidly under conditions of competition than under monopoly or oligopoly.

            Nelson also argues that an adequate theory of economic growth must incorporate institutional change explicitly. Drawing on a deep knowledge of economic and technological history as well as the tools of economic analysis, Nelson exposes the intimate connections among government policies, science-based universities, and the growth of technology. He compares national innovation systems, and explores both the rise of the United States as the world's premier technological power during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century and the diminishing of that lead as other countries have largely caught up.

            Lucid, wide-ranging, and accessible, the book examines the secrets of economic growth and why the U.S. economy has been anemic since the early 1970s.

            Customer Reviews:

            4 out of 5 stars This book is OK!.......2001-03-27

            Nelson provides an accessible introduction to growth theory. In unraveling the mystery of economic growth, Nelson argues that the key are usually the things that the standard economic models leave out or take for granted: history, corporate cultures and political institutions.
            The Sources of Economic Growth in India: 1950-1 to 1999-2000
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              The Sources of Economic Growth in India: 1950-1 to 1999-2000
              S. Sivasubramonian
              Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

              Policy & Current EventsPolicy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
              Development & GrowthDevelopment & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
              Economic Policy & DevelopmentEconomic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
              ASIN: 0195666011

              Book Description

              S Sivasubramonian has long been regarded as the foremost authority on national income estimation and analysis in India. The National Income of India in the Twentieth Century (OUP 2000) was the first book of its kind to present national income estimates for the entire period from 1900 to 2000. THis book, identifying the sources and triggers of economic growth in India between 1951 and 2000, is a result of the interpretative work that Sivasubramonian undertook using the growth accounting approach first developed by Edward Denison for USA. Using the same measure of output as earlier, he presents detailed evidence on and causal analysis of factors affecting growth of output. Specifically, the book discusses: BL estimates of the growth of employment by age and sex, and by level of education in different sectors of the economy BL new estimates of key components of gross and net fixed capital stock and inventories, and shows how they differ from official estimates. BL changes in the cultivated area providing weights to add together the different inputs in order to derive a measure of total factor productivity which gives a measure of the rate of technical progress BL growth accounts which also show the impact of foreign trade, structural change in output and inputs, changing energy inputs, and the effect of weather fluctuations on agricultural performance. The transformation of the Indian economy from a state of near stagnation during the first half of the twentieth century under colonial rule to one of moderate to rapid growth in the second half following independence and the era of planned economic development has evoked much interest and attention. India is now the world's fourth largest economy and there are very few countries which can match its income growth in real terms per head of population over the past decade. The result of immense and meticulous research underpinned by a lifetime of experience in this field, this book will remain a bas ic reference text for many years. It provides a coherent statistical framework for the Indian economy, which will be of fundamental importance for economists and economic historians who want to study India's performance in historical perspective. The transformation of the Indian economy from a state of near stagnation during the first half of the twentieth century under colonial rule to one of moderate to rapid growth in the second half following independence in 1947 and the era of planned economic development has evoked much interest and attention. This volume contains detailed empirical data on the sources of economic growth in the country for the fifty years since independence. It analyses growth in GDP and factor inputs (labour, capital and land), presenting: annual data and growth rates for selected periods smoothened data for long term analysis of growth rates disaggregated GDP by sectors contributions of various sectors to overall growth. This is an invaluable compilati on of very useful data for researchers and policy-makers.

              Books:

              1. Principles of Microeconomics
              2. Principles of Microeconomics
              3. Principles of Microeconomics
              4. Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
              5. Public Choice III
              6. Punishment and Inequality in America
              7. Rampage: The Social Roots Of School Shootings
              8. Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results
              9. Small & Decentralized Wastewater Management Systems
              10. State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future (State of the World)

              Books Index

              Books Home

              Recommended Books

              1. History: Fiction or Science
              2. Understanding A Raisin in the Sun: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
              3. History: Fiction or Science
              4. Practicing Biology
              5. Regression Methods in Biostatistics: Linear, Logistic, Survival, and Repeated Measures Models
              6. Total Construction Project Management
              7. The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery
              8. Healthcare Spaces No.2
              9. Peter Eisenman: Diagram Diaries
              10. Plant Pathologist's Pocketbook