Introduction

This book is about management, the principles that guide management and the adverse consequences of seemingly rational management action on corporate and economic development. It focuses on the dominant and, in the eyes of many, only model: the American Enterprise Model, now embraced by most large public companies in the US and Europe.

Going against the grain, An UnAmerican Business presents evidence of the inflexibility, inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the American approach to business. The book highlights the counterproductive mixture of ideology and economics and reveals the unintended consequences, unaccounted costs, increase of risk and loss of opportunities that follow from a faithful application of the model. The book outlines an alternative European Enterprise Model that avoids most of these pitfalls and is much better suited to capturing the potential benefits of technological revolutions. 

It’s an insider's story. The author lived in the US during the late Seventies and was in the UK during the Thatcher revolution. In addition, he served on the management board of a large European company when the introduction of the American Enterprise Model proved irresistible, but turned out to be detrimental to the company’s health.

An UnAmerican Business is intended for corporate managers, civil servants and politicians, and those who work with them in building companies and economies. The many people who have been adversely affected by the business decisions of the Nineties will also find many new insights in this book. The aim of An UnAmerican Business is to provide new perspectives. The book articulates what many have felt for some time and clears up many misconceptions. 

The book is definitely not about business ethics, corporate responsibility and regulatory issues. Others have already covered these subjects extensively, while ignoring the underlying economic and organisational issues.