Vietor (environmental management, Harvard Business School) considers how governments around the world help countries compete in the increasingly global market; how they contend for market share in the world economy, contesting foreign investment and export sales through businesses; and how economic performance is a function of government policy. Outlining an approach to country analysis, he argues that business managers must analyze the strategy and organization of nation-states and how they fit the sociopolitical context and affect economic performance. Understanding a country's future path and assessing future economic conditions are also key. Individual chapters are organized by developmental trajectories, from successful to stagnating, and address specific countries, including Japan, Singapore, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Italy, and the US. Vietor draws from interactions with business executives and government officials, histories, scholarly economic analyses, and data. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)