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Rating: 
Summary: Lawyer-Author-Reformist: Double Oxymoron Overturned
Review:
I just realized this is the third book by a lawyer I have absorbed in this month's reading, and that is somehow a scary thought. If lawyers are starting to write popular reformist tracts against unfettered capitalism and the export of the flawed U.S. approach to capitalism, something very interesting must be happening in the dark recesses of our national mind.
This is not an easy book to read but on balance it is a very important book and one that would appear to be essential to any discussion of how we might reform the relationship between the federal government with its 1950's concepts and regulations, corporations with their secularist and short-term profit and liquidation notions, and the people who ultimately are both the foundation and the beneficiaries (or losers) within the political economy of the nation and the world. The author lays out, from a business law perspective, all the legal and financial reasons why our corporate practices today sacrifice the long-term perspective and the creation of aggregate value, in favor of short-term profit-taking. He makes a number of suggestions for improvement. Toward the end of the book, citing Lipsett but adding his own observations, he digs deep and summarizes our corporate culture as one that threatens traditional forms of community and morality (Lipsett), while increasingly dominating--undermining--foreign governments and cultures. Elsewhere in the book the stunning failure of our form of capitalism in selected countries is explored. Although there are adequate notes, there is no bibliography and the index is extraordinarily mediocre--not containing, for example, the references in the book to oversight, political, or regulation. One star is deducted for this failure by the publisher to treat the book's content seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Learned but heavy
Review: I found myself being frustrated by the convoluted nature of his arguments to prove - IMO - unnecessarily academic and esoteric points. The writing style, while reasonably light, does labour on some issues to justify and support his arguments to a degree that is a little too involved. While I fully appreciate that Mitchell needs to properly formulate and support his arguments (and he is right in most of what he says I must add) - the shear "readability" suffers from the overly-academic rigour present. I would happily accept less rigour for have more anecdotes of misbehaviour for a more "easy read". Nevertheless what he says is very important, solid and I agree wholeheartedly with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb.
Review: The way Mitchell breaks down the corporate system in America today is outstanding. The way it practically predicts Enron is eventfully precise. His view for the future is one that is intricately complex, but at the same time simply logical. Great reading for those who are already knowledgeable about the subject or those newly acquainted with it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb.
Review: The way Mitchell breaks down the corporate system in America today is outstanding. The way it practically predicts Enron is eventfully precise. His view for the future is one that is intricately complex, but at the same time simply logical. Great reading for those who are already knowledgeable about the subject or those newly acquainted with it.
Rating:
Summary: Suggestive But Too Theoretical
Review: This fascinating and suggestive book makes a strong argument that an undue emphasis on financial performance has caused American corporations to shirk their responsibilities to workers, creditors, communities, or any other group except stockholders. To prove his point, author Mitchell, a business law professor at George Washington University, tackles a vast range of topics, from industrial sociology and shareholders' derivative suits, to Enlightenment individualism and comparative corporate governance. This makes for fascinating reading, and is designed to show that capital markets force corporate managers to focus on short-term financial results. However, it also left me with the sense that Mitchell's theoretical stretch exceeds his empirical grasp: none of the issues is really developed in any depth. In particular, Mitchell fails to systematically compare the behavior of public and non-public corporations in the U.S., or to compare American corporations with corporations operating in less-individualistic legal and cultural environments abroad. Yet such comparisons would be crucial to testing his points about the harmful impact of financial markets on American corporate management. In reading the book, I also wondered whether the pressures to maximize short-term returns are less the result of "American individualism" and more the result of a business environment where hostile takeovers are easy and executive compensation is tied to stock prices. In any event, these issues can't be resolved by theorizing. Mitchell needed to interview some managers to find out what really makes corporations tick. This is a pity since Mitchell writes well, has common sense, and cares about ordinary Americans who spend most of their working lives in large business organizations. His concerns about warped corporate priorities were entirely vindicated by the scandals at Enron (where shareholders as well as workers were screwed by corporate managers bent on boosting short-term share values), which were exposed only AFTER his book appeared in 2001. We need more books pointing out that American-style capitalism isn't the last word on business and can take a heavy toll on humane values. I just wish that Mitchell had crossed his T's and dotted his I's.
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