Megatrends Asia: Eight Asian Megatrends That Are Reshaping Our World

by John Naisbitt

Book Overview

From Simon & Schuster, Megatrends Asia is John Naisbitt's exploration of the eight Asian megatrends that are changing the world. In this, the mother of all megatrends books (Wall Street Journal), John... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684815427
• ISBN13: 9780684815428
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Grand Insights, slightly mistimed

I read this book as my interest in Asia was beginning. Naisbitt's methodology of tracking trends is perhaps not entirely scientific, but it is more precise than much of what passes as future watching. Certainly we left the American century and are now entering the Asian one. Naisbitt falls down in his timing. He is entirely bullish about regional opportunities. But what happened in 1997? The regional financial contagion brought down much of the good times in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and elsewhere. The Malaysian Multimedia SuperCorridor slowed. Other development regionally took a backseat as many western companies pulled out. Fast forward to 2004 (perhaps a more appropriate timeframe for Mega trends) and the wisdom is becoming evident again. Shanghai and Bangalore are the world's boomtowns, and many other regional economies are taking off. Perhaps he wasn't so wrong after all...

Excellent examples, but poor review of negative topics.

In Megatrends Asia, Naisbitt does an excellent job in presenting the next eight major shifts taking place in Asia. His use of precise examples and interviews clarifies the points he is trying to express. For example, he sites specific countries and their new infrastructure projects. He presents specific statistics, like with Asian credit and the number of credit cards being issued. Acer Group is mentioned as an example of the rise in Asian brand names. However, I do not believe Naisbitt give adequate defense to the negative issues surrounding these shifts and their impact on the region. He briefly mentions pollution, environment, human rights, but he does not put much emphasis on them. Overall, I think Naisbitt presented a positive and fairly accurate prediction of the future. But he (we) should not ignore the inevitable negatives surrounding these shift in Asia.END