Choice Review

Buzz words like globalization, competitive advantage, and reengineering abound in this work, which mainly bashes traditional economic concepts. Unfortunately, the job is botched badly. There are simply too many straw men, non sequiturs, and outright errors; for instance, the production possibilities frontier attains its bowed shape due to the law of increasing costs, not the law of diminishing returns. The premise of the book, that economics offers little in the way of practical application for modern business, is intriguing. Kermally (management development consultant and trainer) asserts that the fundamental principles of economics do not apply because business today is so terribly fast-paced, global, reengineered, or otherwise singular. Anyone who has thumbed through the American Economic Review has to wonder whether any of this high-flying theory has a practical application. But the author's claim--that the law of demand is becoming blurred with the law of supply in today's business climate because suppliers are becoming more involved with their customers--is off base. Liberally sprinkled with lengthy excerpts from business magazines and journals. Not recommended for academic collections. E. Kacapyr; Ithaca College