ABSTRACT
Exaggeration sometimes helps to make a valid point. Kenichi Ohmae does both in The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies. The valid and important point is that information forges powerful linkages among investment, industry, and individual consumers, and that these linkages transcend national borders, thereby eclipsing and rendering "dysfunctional" the nation state. Mr. Ohmae advances the notion that, in place of feckless nation states, the effective new "natural economic zones" are "regional states" that become synergistically joined through their shared economic and technological interests, innovations, and economic activities. In a "borderless world," the reach may extend beyond regional as well as beyond national states. For example, the Sumitomo Bank in Tokyo reached to the Ford Motor Company in Michigan to help in restructuring Mazda in Japan, and US money managers in New York and California are partnering with Russian, Indian, and Korean financial institutions to establish mutual funds in those countries.
