n geology the morning after an earthquake" (p. 1) This quote establishes quite clearly the "no-nonsense" tone of the book, which reads more like a Cliff's Notes rather than a book assigned for a management class. "In fifteen years time it will be 2010 a decade into a new millenium, the twenty-first century. As anyone who has anything to do with business knows there are profound changes taking place right now" (p. 1).
That's an extremely comforting tone of voice for a business author to assume. There are no "dollar words" used in an attempt to impress the reader with how many big words that author knows. He wants to keep the topic clear and in focus. That same bottom-line attitude carries through all the chapters. Chapter 2, "The Global World of 2010" for instance, avoids the futuristic approaches of some authors when writing about the future. In Johnson's view, business in the future will be more evolutionary than revolutionary. "The Global Village exists. Whether we like it or not whether we want to work that way or not we are in an age of practically instantaneous communications from anywhere to anywhere" (p. 14). The surviving companies of the future, he says, will be those "who make the decision today to join in the global business battle and get 'in touch' with what the best practice companies are doing right now" (p. 14).
Johnson's reference to the world as a "business battle" is certainly a reality-based observation, which makes more sense than some other academic theories of comparative and competitive trade advantages. It is in this chapter that we see first-hand how skillfully Johnson uses his source material. After establishing the premise of business as war, Johnson then begins showing what other management leaders think about that same concept. "Peter Drucker feels that the globalization of the business part of our world at least is practically complete in that 'we have become a worl
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