Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-318) and index.

The economic battleground is about to change. For the past two decades, the intense conflict between America and Japan has been played out on U.S. soil, as Japanese companies have become dominant producers of cars, computers, and electronics. But now the European Community has become the world's largest market, and this new arena will be the site of an even more important competition with Japan. As Tim Jackson explains in this provocative book, Europe puts Japan and the United States on an equal footing for the first time. Both will now have to operate on foreign territory; both will have to do business in unfamiliar languages and adjust to complex regulations of someone else's devising. A few of America's largest companies have well-established operations in Europe, but the recent flood of Japanese investments suggests that Japan is already moving quickly to adapt its dynamic economic philosophy to this huge new market. Many companies in the United States - and in Europe itself - will have to hurry to catch up. But this is a story about people as well as companies, and in these pages we meet American, Japanese, and European managers as they struggle to understand a whole new set of problems and opportunities. Jackson focuses on four businesses - banking, automobiles, computers, and electronics - as a way to explore the dimensions of this three-cornered conflict. Gradually, the essential questions become clear: has American business learned the right lessons from its recent conflict with Japan, and can we now enter the European battleground as a stronger and wiser competitor? Combining incisive analysis with colorful reportage from three continents, Tim Jackson takes us inside the Japanese juggernaut and a range of global industries to demonstrate the breadth and complexity of the challenge we face. The stakes are high: how well U.S. businesses respond will have lasting implications for the American economy.

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