This book focuses on the so-called Golden Age of Capitalism' the 1950s and 1960s, and studying prime-mover countries (the US and the UK), followers (Germany, France, and Italy), and latecomers (Japan and Korea). It addresses the crucial questions to be asked; what appropriate roles should government be assigned, and which government actions are useful public policy and which represent unnecessary and harmful intervention?

In Small Firms, Large Concerns, G-7 researchers and scholars follow the process of small business development in North America, Europe, and Japan. They examine economic growth and social stability; the links between small and big business; and the resilience and vulnerability of small business management.

This book analyses business groups such as the Japanese "keiretsu" or Korean "chaebol," their role in different business systems and their impact on business performance, management, and the wider society. It provides valuable historical detail, raises questions for conventional theories of the firm, offers insights into the resilient international competitiveness of Japanese companies and into the varying institutional characteristics of different business systems and cultures.