Business in Europe

Citation

Whitman, R.G. (1999), "Business in Europe", European Business Review, Vol. 99 No. 2, pp. 127-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.1999.99.2.127.3

Sonia El Kahal has produced a textbook for use in the teaching of final year undergraduates and postgraduates which, for the most part, disappoints in the purpose for which it was written.

The textbook breaks down into four parts. Part one deals with the business environment of the new Europe and attempts to provide an understanding of the politics and economics of European integration and the implications for doing business in the contemporary European Union. In part two, business operations in the single market are examined through case studies of, respectively, differing competitive strategies, approaches to strategic planning and marketing, and the challenges of managing in the European Union. Part two is intended to illustrate, and explain, how Europe’s industrial structure is adjusting to a “new” European business environment. The third part of the text explores contemporary trends and issues in European business. This latter exploration takes place through five case studies. These case studies range across a wide set of issues: globalization, managing strategic alliances, the “greening of business”, the east European business environment and the comparative study of the role of women in European business. Each chapter of the book is provided with review questions, a further reading list and exercises (or short case studies) to illustrate the topic under discussion.

The primary deficiencies in El Kahal’s text are to be found in Part one. The first chapter of the text makes a strong case for an understanding of integration processes and, more particularly, integration theory, as necessary for an understanding of contemporary business in Europe. However, the theory element of the text is disappointing in the cursory nature of the coverage and, most importantly, the relevance of the concepts and theories to the subject of the text is not apparent. The lessons to be drawn from this examination of theory for business in Europe are not drawn, and there is no reference to these theories in the text thereafter. Furthermore, in the historical account of European integration post‐1957, the development of business in Europe is not reviewed. There is limited utility in having an overview of the Maastricht Treaty, as contained in chapter three, with little coverage of its implementation and no reference to the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference. There are also matters that are factually incorrect ‐ for example, confusing the date and method of founding of the Council of Ministers with the European Council in chapter four. The coverage of European community policies in chapter five is poor, focusing only on competition policy, mergers and the social chapter. The absence of text on policies directly related to business, such as energy and telecommunications policies, is surprising. Parts two and three of the text have much to commend them in the clarity of writing, and the well‐chosen examples, but more recent statistical material, which for the most part is from 1993/1994 (and earlier), should appear in a textbook published in 1998.