Anthem Book Blog

Giles over at the Foreword Book Design blog has posted his cover design for an interesting academic book coming out from Routledge in September. There is a design discussion going on at Foreword about various aspects of the cover (what a great image of shopping carts rolling over the world!). It's fascinating to eavesdrop on a number of professional book designers giving opinions on each others' work.

But the book itself intrigues me. Makes me feel better that the academic world is paying attention to the Wal-Mart effect on global retailing. The end of the description gives the impression that the book will have essays for both positive and negative aspects of Wal Mart.

Book description from the Routledge site:

Now that Wal-Mart has conquered the US, can it conquer the world? As Wal-Mart World shows, the corporation is certainly trying. For a number of years, Wal-Mart has been the largest company in the United States. Now, though, it is the largest company in the world, even bigger than General Motors. Getting its start in the most unlikely of places (rural northwest Arkansas). Wal-Mart now sets the terms for a massive number of suppliers and manufacturers worldwide, and its fabled ability to control costs has played a role in the low inflation rates of the past dozen years. In fact, its global labor practices and outsourcing strategies represent for many what contemporary economic globalization is all about. And increasingly, observers across the world see the chain's vaunted ability to control workers as a harbinger of a global future dominated by transnational corporations.

But Wal-Mart is not standing still. Recently, the chain has begun to target not just workers and suppliers beyond American shores, but consumers as well. From Germany to Beijing to Mexico City to Tokyo, more than a billion shoppers can now hunt for bargains at a Wal-Mart superstore. Wal-Mart World is the first book to look at this incredibly important phenomenon in global perspective, with chapters that range from its growth in the US and impact on labor relations here to its fortunes overseas. As the book shows, the company has enjoyed massive success here, engineering revolutions in logistics, retailing, and labor conditions. Achieving world dominance, however, is not proving to be so easy. Many stores overseas have yet to turn a profit, and Wal-Mart is learning that shoppers and consumers in Europe and Asia are not the same as those in middle America. How Wal-Mart manages this transition in the near future will play a significant role in determining the character of the global economy. Wal-Mart World's impressively broad scope makes it necessary reading for anyone interested in the global impact of this economic colossus.

WAL MART WORLD Wal-Mart World
Editor(s) - Stanley D Brunn
List Price: $85.00
ISBN: 0415951364
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 9/28/2005
Pages: 352 pages