Book Reviews

• Author: Corwin D. Edwards
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X7401900315
• Published date: 01 September 1974
• Date: 01 September 1974
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS 651

Jules Backman and

Ernest

Bloch (eds.), Multinational Cor-

porations, Trade and the Dollar, New York: New York

University Press (1974), 108 pp.,

$5.75

cloth,

$2.95

paper.

This book is the second growing out of a series of lectures

on key issues

at

New York University's College of Business

and Public Administration, financed by a

grant

by the Inter-

national Telephone and Telegraph Company.

It

contains es-

says by five authors. Professor Backman and Professor

Bloch of New York University collaborate on an introduc-

tory

essay which attempts to synthesize the highlights of the

papers, and Professor Backman writes independently against

protectionism. Professor Charles P. Kindleberger of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology writes on the changing

international position of the dollar. Professor Arnold Sametz

of New York University and Professor Raymond Vernon of

Harvard

contribute essays on multi-national corporations.

That

by Professor Vernon is focused on the performance and

accountability of multi-nationals:

that

by Professor Sametz

on foreign multi-nationals in the United States.

The book as a whole is not a systematic discussion but a

series of useful fragments.

It

contains valuable quantitative

and qualitative summaries of recent developments, and some

insights

that

add to the reader's understanding.

Parts

of it,

particularly the essay by Professor Vernon, contribute to the

sense of proportion

that

is much needed in discussing multi-

nationals. Each author in his own way emphasizes the in-

adequacy of current information, current policies, and current

analyses. To Professor Backman, and Professor Bloch, pro-

posed policies "may reflect,

at

best, a cultural lag, or

at

worst

xenophobia." To Professor Kindleberger, "the world and the

dollar

are

in for an extended period of uncertainty," in which

the U.S. will not assert leadership and there is no other poten-

tial leader. Professor Sametz says of foreign direct invest-

ment

that

"we are hardly ready to make policy in this area."

Seeing little progress in formulating an operational concept of

the social responsibility of the multi-nationals, Professor Ver-

non thinks

that

there may be progress toward the lesser objec-