Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World (4 Volume Set) Review

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Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World (4 Volume Set) ReviewWankel of St. John's University, New York offers readers this four-volume set as a way to introduce them to definitions and discussions of key business topics as they relate to the global business environment. I counted about 1,014 entries by almost 500 different contributors -- about 60% affiliated with American universities and the other 40% being mostly faculty affiliated mostly with universities throughout the world.
Entries are categorized under twenty-two major themes, typically run one to three pages, and often suggest additional "See Also" references and a brief list of additional sources for readers to consult. The volumes themselves are attractively designed, nicely bound and the content is presented in an easily read font and attractive layout. While I would have preferred seeing more photographs, illustrations, tables and graphs of broad economic terms, these concerns are offset somewhat by the lengthy glossary and statistical appendix that precedes the cumulative index at the end of the fourth volume.
In this age of complexity in every aspect of today's business world one cannot help but wonder if a mere four-volume encyclopedia can really cover the fields that make up "Business" as a discipline. Think about it, there's Management, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business Law, never mind the associated fields such as Management Information Systems, Operations Research, Industrial Psychology, etc. Then there's the need for information on "How to Do Business in [name the country]," biographical sketches of prominent CEO's, description of significant economic and business events, and so forth. Because each business discipline could easily fill a four-volume set alone, and these other areas that need to be covered are just as vitally important -- the reality is that a comparison of the content of this product with the title -- indicates that the publisher has, to some extent, "over-promised and under-delivered." That may sound harsh, and is not intended to belittle the efforts of the editor and publisher -- that is, it's not to say that this set is not a worthy effort -- it is. Indeed, in comparison to the other products out there, while it will not replace the six-volume International Encyclopedia of Business and Management, 2nd. (Thomson Learning, 2001, $1,499), it is more comprehensive and a better purchase decision than buying the two-volume Encyclopedia of Business and Finance 2nd (MacMillan Reference USA, 2006. $385).
My hat is off to Dr. Wankel for taking on a project like this -- coordinating the progress and editing the content to make sure contributions are uniform and arrive in a timely manner for 500 contributors -- is, more often than not, a thankless, difficult ordeal for the editor. He is to be commended. But, it is time for one of the top business publishers to come up with the "Encyclopedia of Business" that the marketplace needs. Such a product would: combine the content of the best textbooks by the most noted authors of each discipline; add content on doing business in specific countries in a manner seen in the "Doing Business in [Country]" guides published by many of the "Big-10" accounting firms along with content from Europa Yearbook and the CIA Factbook; and, would offer historical, biographical and economic articles in the quality and style seen in the Wall Street Journal and other principal business periodicals such as Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, etc. all written by business faculty from the top business schools in America and the world.
In the meantime, librarians for both public and academic library collections will find this set helpful for general business questions.
R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University
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