The Evolving Bargain: Strategic Implications of Deregulation and Privatization.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Review

The Evolving Bargain: Strategic Implications of Deregulation and Privatization. By Willis Emmons. Harvard Business School Press, 257 pages. $35.

This thoughtful, well-researched book examines the impact of 21st Century markets on the relationships that private industries have with governments. At a time of galloping globalization and virtually instantaneous capital flows, Emmons -- an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business -- finds that government entities are often flexing a surprising amount of muscle in shaping business practices.

The Justice Department's efforts to rein in Microsoft Corp. spring to mind, but Emmons uses other examples. He uses a set of detailed cases, in the U.S. and in countries like Britain and Argentina, to look at the effects of both deregulation and privatization -- the latter an issue foreign to most U.S. readers. Even in newly liberated markets, he writes, entering companies are...