8/10/2019 4th WAVE - Herman Bryant Maynard

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Herman Bryant Maynard, Jr., and Mehrtens, Susan E. : The Fourth Wave: Business in the

21st Century, Berret Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, 1996

Review:

Finally what do the authors mean by the Fourth Wave? In their own words..

"The First Wave of change, the agricultural revolution, has essentially ended and will not be of concern here.

The Second Wave, coincidental with industrialization, has covered much of the Earth and continues to

spread, while a new, post-industrial Third Wave is gathering force in the modern industrial nations.

The Second Wave is rooted in materialism and the supremacy of man. From this orientation flows a stress on

competition, self preservation, and consumption, which has led to such current problems as pollution,solid-

waste disposal, crime, family violence, and international terrorism.

The Third Wave manifests growing concern for balance and sustainability. As the Third Wave unfolds, we

become more sensitive to the issues of conservation, sanctity of life, and co-operation. By the time of the

Fourth Wave, integration of all dimensions of life and responsibility for thewhole will have become the

central foci of our society. The recognition of the identity of all living systems will give rise to new ways of

relating and interacting that nourish both humans and non-humans."

What is interesting from our experience is that using this as a framework, Asian business is very much at the

Second Wave, not only in the developing countries as the authors state, but also in the Asian "developed"

economies like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The response to the pleas from Western governments for

more sustainable development have been largely ignored by Asian governments, who, quite rightly, feel that

they should not shoulder the responsibility for the Western excesses that fuelled their development earlier.

The "Asian values" debate, no matter how maligned, underlies that the world-view that these authors are

talking may be based on US or Western values than global values. Asian business and governments, buoyed

by the success of their tiger economies are, if anything, having reinforced to them that more authoritarian

structures are indeed more successful. And they are indeed, if you are looking at a restricted and fairly short

term criteria of "success".

The remainder of the book is taken up with the implications of these changes on such areas as leadership.

"corporate wealth", organizational structure"and the role of business. There is an excellent further reading

bibliography at the end and useful tables and graphics serve to clarify the theory. A 20 page "Executive

Summary" at the start may also be preferred by many busy executives.

The writing style is easy and relaxed, but even though there is adequate citation and presentation of

evidence, the feeling of this reviewer was that this volume was more about "should's" than facts. Similarly

the "new age" terminology did start to lose this reader towards the end of the volume.

Perhaps that is because with the promised coming of the Third Wave still seemingly far distant in Asia, the

Fourth Wave is too far ahead to envision clearly.

Perhaps it was because Asian business is indeed different fundamentally and not just at an earlier stage of a

global phenomenon.

Perhaps you should read the book and decide for yourself!

Reviewed by Rod Davies