Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia - Paperback

by James L. Watson (Editor)

For the second edition of this widely read-and widely acclaimed-book, James L. Watson has added a new chapter entitled "Update: McDonald's as a Political Target." He covers recent attacks on the Golden Arches as a symbol of American imperialism, and the obesity controversy currently raging in the U.S. food industry. The new chapter also brings the story of East Asian franchise into the twenty-first century.

Back Jacket

McDonald's Restaurants are to be found world-wide and books have been written on their business success and approach but GOLDEN ARCHES EAST: MCDONALD'S IN EAST ASIA is something different, providing college-level readers with a blend of cultural insights and business savvy as it traces McDonald's role in five Asian countries. Chapters provide the author's first-person insights as he journeys to five Asian countries and asks questions on McDonald's management, promotion strategies, and impact on local culture. Also included are reflections on food and marketing within these nations, making GOLDEN ARCHES EAST essential for any overseas business or Asian holding. --BOOKWATCH 9780804749916|JB|A recent wave of decentralization in Latin America has increased the prominence of politicians at the subnational level. Politics Beyond the Capital is the first book to place this trend in comparative historical perspective, examining past episodes of decentralization alongside contemporary ones to determine whether consistent causal factors are at play. At the center of the book is the rigorous testing of two key hypotheses that attribute decentralization to liberalizing changes in political regime type and economic development strategy.
The book focuses on the four Latin American countries where politicians have most extensively engaged in the redesign of subnational institutions: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. By reframing the politics of decentralization" as the "politics of designing subnational institutions," the book moves beyond the policy orientation of much of the current literature, and broadens the debate by analyzing not just decentralization but re-centralization as well.

Author Biography

James L. Watson is Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society and Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.