Amazon.co.uk

An UnAmerican Business challenges the widely held belief that the American Enterprise Model is the only form of capitalism to guarantee business success. Why should it continue to set the world standard for companies? The corporate scandals of the last few years that have beset the US business scene have shaken many people’s belief in the American model and Donald Kalff now presents a compelling alternative – a European Enterprise Model. In this book, he outlines a European way of doing business that is founded on very different values of culture, ethics and economic considerations, but which is at the same time highly competitive.

Kalff shows us how inflexible, inefficient and ineffective the American approach to business can be and challenges us to reject the broadly held view of the American Enterprise Model. He believes that the root cause is the web of expectations spun around listed companies, both in the United States and in Europe, by the consultants and financial institutions; companies are driven to optimize their profit per share as the presumed route to an ever-increasing return on shareholder investment.

An UnAmerican Business identifies eight areas where European companies could add significant economic value through the introduction of more advanced business models (rather than sacrificing it to shareholder expectation). All those who believe that change is inevitable will find Donald Kalff’s optimistic assessment of the future prospects for European companies persuasive and compelling.


Synopsis

Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Anderson, Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Citygroup - once the great icons of the US economy, worshipped at corporate alters world over, are now nothing more than an embarrassing memory. The universally accepted American enterprise model, which these and many other corporate giants have slavishly followed, has at last been called into question. Free market capitalism and globalism are not quite what they seem after all, as the decline of the US economy might testify. Donald Kalff passionately believes that the time is right for a sea-change in the way businesses operate and that a credible alternative is a European enterprise model, one which is founded on quite different values of culture, ethics and economic considerations. Packed with vital facts and figures, "An UnAmerican Business" is a fresh and agnostic look at the past, present and future performance of companies that have embraced the American way of doing business.


About the Author

Dr. Donald Kalff has vast international business and academic experience, having lived and worked in the USA and Europe during the last 30 years. A PhD from Wharton Business School, He has held board level posts at the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Today he is co-founder and CEO of Immpact, a biotech company, advisor to strategy consultants Rolandberger and BTF, and is visiting professor at the Leiden University School of Management, Netherlands.