The globalization of the motor vehicle industry--specifically, cars and light trucks--has engendered new forms of competition and cooperation with less regard for national boundaries than ever before. The DaimlerChrysler merger, the GM-Toyota joint venture, the Renault equity stake in Nissan, the Ford takeover of Mazda, Jaguar, and Volvo cars, and direct foreign investments in Mexico, Mercosur (Mercado Com DEGREESD'un del Sur), China, and India--developments like these are almost impossible to keep up with. Hiraoka, a prize-winning analyst of manufacturing excellence in the automotive industry, surveys them and their causes and presents a clarifying picture with thoroughness and depth.

Hiraoka's explanation of the various factors contributing to globalization of the motor vehicle industry provides the background information necessary to gain perspective on recent events. These developments include e-commerce networks, alliances with local and far-flung parts suppliers, low-cost mass production and distribution systems, the launching of hybrid products in mature economies, and the buildup of capacity in emerging markets. His analysis ranges widely, delving into managerial reactions to regional free-trade blocks, currency crises, government shifts away from central planning and trade protectionism, the vicissitudes of business cycles in emerging markets, and the juxtaposition of Japan's prolonged recession and the booming American motor vehicle market. Corporate decision-makers, labor leaders, policy analysts, researchers, students, and industry observers will benefit from understanding the global characteristics of today's motor vehicle industry.

Filled with fascinating glimpses behind today's financial headlines, Underwriting the Internet is a fast-paced story of one of the most exciting developments that has ever occurred. This comprehensive treatment of the technical advances, financial engineering, and entrepreneurial genius behind the Internet revolution includes actual corporate case studies, stock market analyses, and synopses of regulatory investigations. While focusing on the Internet's commercial development, the author describes the little understood technical and financial areas of the Internet revolution. He shows how the industry set off an investment frenzy built on biased financial research, executive malfeasance, and lax oversight by corporate directors and government agencies that ultimately destroyed the majority of dot-com startups as well as countless investment portfolios across America. Hiraoka analyzes specific events and corporate alliances that contributed to the Internet's development, and compares the startup companies that began operating with questionable business plans that inevitably failed. He covers the anti-trust case against Microsoft; the successes of eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, and Google; "road-kills" along the information highway such as the forgotten eToys; as well as the Enron implosion and other corporate scandals. After tracing this amazing story he concludes that the illegal practices and the ensuing $7 trillion loss in equity markets slowed the Internet revolution but could not snuff it out, and with worldwide economic recovery e-business surges onward.

Filled with fascinating glimpses behind today's financial headlines. "Underwriting the Internet is a fast-paced story of one of the most exciting business developments that has ever occurred. This comprehensive treatment of the technical advances, financial engineering, and entrepreneurial genius behind the Internet revolution includes actual corporate case studies, stock market analyses, and synopses of regulatory investigations. While focusing on the Internet's commercial development, the author describes the little understood technical and financial areas of the Internet revolution. He shows how the industry set off an investment frenzy built on biased financial research, executive malfeasance, and lax oversight by corporate directors and government agencies that ultimately destroyed the majority of dot-com startups as well as countless investment portfolios across America. Hiraoka analyzes specific and corporate alliances that contributed to the Internet's development, and compares the startup companies that began operating with questionable business plans that inevitably failed. He covers the anit-trust case against Microsoft; the successes of eBay, Amazon, Yohoo, and Google; roadkills along the information highway such as the forgotten eToys; as well as the Enron implosion and the other corporate scandals. After tracing this amazing story he concludes that the illegal practices and the ensuing $7 trillion loss in equity markets slowed the Internet revolution but could not snuff it out, and today e-business surges onward.