Hertz, Noreena

views updated

HERTZ, Noreena


PERSONAL: Female. Education: Wharton College, M.B.A.; Cambridge University, Ph.D.


ADDRESSES: Home—London, England. Offıce—Centre for International Business and Management, Judge Institute of Management, Trumpington St., Cambridge CB2 1AG, England. E-mail—[email protected].


CAREER: Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, professor of business; Centre for International Business and Management, associate director; writer.


WRITINGS:


Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform, foreword by John Lloyd, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1997.

The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalization and theDeath of Democracy, Free Press (New York, NY), 2002.


SIDELIGHTS: Noreena Hertz is an educator and writer who is known for her insights into contemporary capitalist practices. In 1997 she published Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform, which examines the evolving practices of seven companies after the decline of the Soviet Union. "Hertz analyzes the changes these firms have faced by considering a matrix of relationships against a market paradigm and a centrally planned paradigm," affirmed Susan P. Mc-Caffray in Slavic Review. She deemed Hertz "well qualified for the task she undertakes." Another reviewer, Alan Smith, wrote in International Affairs that Hertz's book serves as "a fascinating study of the process of transformation of Russian enterprises since the collapse of Communism." Smith hailed the book as "an excellent, thoroughly researched book, which gives valuable insights into the process of change at the enterprise level in Russia."

Hertz followed Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform with The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalization and the Death of Democracy, which appeared in 2002. "The thesis of [The Silent Takeover]," wrote Mandy Garner in the Times Higher Education Supplement, "is that over the past two decades, the balance of power between business and politics has shifted to such an extent that people are becoming increasingly apathetic about politics." According to Garner, Hertz "argues that the only way to stop the rot and reassert public faith in democracy is for politicians to curb the power of multinationals."


The Silent Takeover failed to entirely impress some reviewers, including Paul Ormerod, who contended in the Times Higher Education Supplement that it "lacks any real structure and flits at speed from one point to the next," and Jennifer Szalai, who dismissed it in New Statesman as "an anaemic objection to global capitalism." Charles Leadbeater, however, wrote in Management Today that "Hertz makes her case with passion, incredulity and verve," and he considered her work "prodigiously energetic."


BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:


periodicals


International Affairs, April, 1998, Alan Smith, review of Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform, pp. 470-471.

Management Today, May, 2001, Charles Leadbeater, "Anti-Capitalism Gets Hip," p. 45.

New Statesman, June 11, 2001, Jennifer Szalai, "We Can't, We Won't," pp. 69-70.

Slavic Review, fall, 1998, Susan P. McCaffray, review of Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform, pp. 674-685.

Times Higher Education Supplement, April 6, 2001, Mandy Garner, "Stirred into Action by Political Apathy"; May 4, 2001, Paul Ormerod, "Globalisation's Poison Pill," p. 28.

Times Literary Supplement, February 15, 2002, Corey Robin, "All Fashion Spent," p. 29.*

About this article

Hertz, Noreena

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article