Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

John McMillan's Reinventing the Bazaar is an extremely accessible description of markets large and small, as well as an explanation of their underlying mechanisms. An "absolutely free market," he says, is a "free-for-all brawl," while a "real market" is an "ordered brawl." Sprinkling his analysis with hundreds of anecdotes and examples--prison camps, eBay, the American experiment with alcohol prohibition, the Tokyo fish market, and traditional Ghanaian bazaars--and pertinent quotes from the likes of Chekhov, Twain, and Steinbeck, McMillan animates his subject. Why do banks build showcase headquarters? Which "frictions" brake, and which spur, various markets? Is the "invisible hand" attached to a clothed arm? Why are both pro- and antimarket absolutists, in McMillan's view, the economics equivalent of "flat-earthers"? Is there such an animal as a "perfect" market? Reinventing the Bazaar answers these questions, and many more, in an eminently wise, entertaining, and instructive way. --H. O'Billovich -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

In The Great Game of Business (1992), Stack and Burlingham showed how Stack's experience with open management at the Springfield ReManufacturing Corporation (SRC) brought the concept of employee ownership to new levels. Here they extend the concept to show how the company was designed as a community where employees have a real stake in the business. While telling the SRC story, they delve into the core issues of ownership, such as the trouble with equity and why it can be a problem when your stock rises; why you don't really find out what problems are until you're successful; why businesses get bought and sold; and the stages of growth beyond mere survival. The authors emphasize how the culture of ownership brings meaning to the lives of all employees, but that the model is fluid; and when companies grow beyond a certain size, outside interest may become inevitable. The SRC model may be the ultimate goal, but because no two companies are alike, some may use the SRC model as a reference rather than as a blueprint. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

Readers looking for a basic primer on how our "market economy" works will find no better treatment than this first book by Stanford University professor McMillan. Taking the long view, he examines how markets in ancient times evolved and shows how countries experimented with markets, some successfully and some not. Not surprisingly, he judges countries like Russia and China with their centralized economies as not being truly market driven, but he lauds them for recent changes. Although he does raise the flag on "free markets" a bit much, he takes a refreshingly commonsense approach to his subject, doesn't talk down to his readers, and refrains from excessive economic jargon. The Internet is praised for breaking down barriers, and he terms the eBay web site "a high-tech flea market." Government deregulation is a good thing, but California, in his opinion, made a mess of it resulting in the energy crisis of last year. The bottom line for McMillan is that "the market system is like democracy. It is the worst form of economy, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time." Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Richard Drezen, Washington Post/New York City Bureau
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

An insightful, common-sense, jargon-free tour of all sorts of markets.

McMillan takes readers on a lively tour, from the wild swings of the stock market to the online auctions of eBay to the unexpected twists of the world's post-communist economies.

Taking us on a tour of the world's markets, John McMillan ranges from a camel trading fair in India to the 20 millin dollar per day Aalsmeer flower market and the global trade in AIDS drugs. He shows markets as neither magical nor immoral, but imperfect tools to improve living standards.