Small-mart revolution: how local - Businesses ar

Informationen zum Autor Michael Shuman, an attorney, economist, and writer, is Vice President for Enterprise Development for the Training & Development Corporation (TDC) of Bucksport, Maine. Since publication of his previous book, Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age (Routledge, 2000), he has been considered one of the nation’s fore- most experts on locally owned business. After growing up in the suburbs in Long Island and St. Louis, Shuman entered Stanford University, where he received a bachelors’ degree with distinction in international relations and economics in 1979 and a law degree in 1982. In 1980 he won First Prize in the Rabinowitch Essay Competition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on “How to Prevent Nuclear War.” Klappentext Shuman's groundbreaking work offers an alternative model to the dominant view of economic development, a model that liberates and fosters the natural capacities of local businesses to grow and prosper. His book provides both a compelling case for the macroeconomic benefits of buying (and building) local, and he shows readers how easy and beneficial it is-to them and to their communities-to "go local" in their four key spending categories: goods, services, energy and finance. Ultimately, Shuman provides an optimistic vision and a practical roadmap for consumers who wonder if their spending is really paying off. Zusammenfassung Defenders of massive multinational chains like Wal-Mart and Fortune 500 big business argue that! like it or not! there is no alternative. Their huge scale and international reach! they claim! make them more efficient and profitable! better able to deliver value! and an uncontested boon for the job market. According to the big boys! locally owned small businesses are simply quaint remnants of the past! unable to compete in the global economy. But in The Small-Mart Revolution! Michael Shuman shows that the benefits these mega-stores and huge corporations supposedly deliver to communities are illusory. Crunch the numbers and you'll find that locally owned businesses turn out to be much more reliable generators of good jobs! economic growth! tax dollars! community wealth! charitable contributions! social stability! and political participation. Unlike their global competitors! they do this without massive tax breaks and subsidies that often put local economies in a permanent hole. Plus! contrary to popular belief! local businesses are competitive with the multinationals--and gaining ground every day. Shuman highlights numerous trends that are making the old "bigger is better" economies of scale argument obsolete! and he describes a variety of innovative strategies these businesses are using to successfully compete with their over-sized competitors. He also shows how consumers! investors! and policymakers can support their own communities by "going local." The Small-Mart Revolution offers a robust alternative to "go-go" globalization! one that nurtures the creative capacities of local businesses and enables communities everywhere to thrive. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction - What are the limits to shopping at Wal-Mart? Part I: Community Economics - Are local goods and services competitive with their global counterparts, and what do current trends in the world economy portend (1)Wreckenomics (2)The LOIS Alternative (3)Microtrends Part II: Personal Opportunities for Localization - How far can members of a U.S. household go in reasonably localizing its expenditures? (4)Goods (5)Services (7)Finance Part III: Strategies for Localization - What are the various ways communities, grassroots groups, national coalitions, and international movements are spreading the virtues of localization? (8)Local First (9)Local Economy Building (10)Protecting the Local, Globally ...

List of contents

Introduction - What are the limits to shopping at Wal-Mart?
Part I: Community Economics - Are local goods and services competitive with their global counterparts, and what do current trends in the world economy portend
(1)Wreckenomics
(2)The LOIS Alternative
(3)Microtrends

Part II: Personal Opportunities for Localization - How far can members of a U.S. household go in reasonably localizing its expenditures?
(4)Goods
(5)Services. (6)Energy
(7)Finance

Part III: Strategies for Localization - What are the various ways communities, grassroots groups, national coalitions, and international movements are spreading the virtues of localization?
(8)Local First
(9)Local Economy Building
(10)Protecting the Local, Globally

Report

This is a badly needed book.
BILL MCKIBBEN, author of The End of Nature

The Small-Mart Revolution reveals why supporting small business makes good economic sense and how they offer the only real long- term solution for the health of our neighborhoods and our nation. It will touch your heart, while showing you how to better mind your wallet.
DR. NANCY SNYDERMAN, Vice President for Consumer Education, Johnson & Johnson, and Associate Professor of Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania

There are precious few good alternatives to the Wal-Martization of our communities. The Small-Mart Revolution not only provides an alternative analysis, it tells us how we can make it happen.
ROBERT GREENWALD, director of the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

The Small-Mart Revolution is an essential resource for every local business owner, government official, and public interest citizen advocate. Michael Shuman makes a convincing case that the future belongs to the small and local. This is an authoritative, practical, and highly readable handbook on rebuilding local economies as
an alternative to corporate-led economic globalization by the leading guru of local economic development.
DAVID C. KORTEN, author of When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community

The Small-Mart Revolution provides the most important blueprint for economic development I ve ever seen. It shows how communities can prosper by putting local constituents and businesses first. The book should be required reading for local elected officials and civil servants across America.
LARRY AGRAN, Mayor of Irvine, California (2000 2004)

Some of us have embraced globalization without worrying overmuch about the consequences. Others of us are fighting pointless battles against progress, technology, and capitalism. Here, Michael Shuman presents a badly needed Third Way. He says that by strengthening our local businesses and communities we ll be creating a better capitalism and a better world. And he backs it up with logic, examples, statistics, and passion! This is the kind of book that could launch a whole new social-political movement.
MARK SATIN, author of Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now

Michael Shuman has done it again. He shows the power of grassroots economics not as mere theory about a future world but as real people, today, creating an equitable economy from the grassroots up. This book will revolutionize your thinking about development. Do yourself and all of us a favor by reading it and then acting on it.
KEVIN DANAHER, Co-Director, Global Exchange

The world is about to become a larger place again. Globalism is toast. Caught up in raptures of credit-fueled discount shopping, few Americans realize how profoundly our society is about to change. We are sleepwalking into a permanent global energy crisis that will compel us to live much more locally than we have for generations. We face a desperate need to reconstruct local networks of economic relations and we should have begun this great task yesterday. This is an invaluable guide to how we might accomplish this.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER, author of The Long Emergency

As global markets explode, Michael Shuman offers a compelling alternative for growth towards a healthier civil society. Anyone interested in the consequences of globalization dominated by multinationals should read this book.
MICHELE BARRY, Professor of Medicine and Global Health, Yale University

Product details

• Authors: SHUMAN, Michael Shuman, Michael H Shuman, Michael H. Shuman
• Publisher: Berrett Koehler Publishers
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.07.2006
• EAN: 9781576753866
• ISBN: 978-1-57675-386-6
• No. of pages: 312
• Dimensions: 163 mm x 240 mm x 25 mm
• Series: BK Currents; Bk Currents
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries