It's getting close to Christmas / Hari Raya / Chinese New Year gift giving time, and what better way to send a bit more smelly cheese the Rat's way AND AMAZE your friends OR BOSS with your class, sophistication and savvy, by ordering these books through Amazon as gifts for them.

Get that painful Christmas / Hari Raya / Chinese New Year shopping trip behind you without even leaving your desk or bribing your secretary in doing it for you! Guaranteed none of these books will be offensive to any adherents of major religions...

Then again, you might like these books so much, this month all new October releases, you may want to snaffle one for yourself. (In fact they are so new we aint got piccies yet!) That's a bit jai dum of course but the great thing with the Internet is that you can do things you wouldn't normally do when someone can see you make a sideways drift into the bookshop entrance on the street right? All good Asian business strategy stuff, and yes we admit, there ARE other places to get the savvy on Asian business than on our own modest sites...

The Handbook of Human Resource Management: Human Resource Management Policies and Practices in Asia-Pacific Economies - New October 2002 - Price $95 - Hmm.. that's a pricey in Baht, Ringitt or Rupea, but it IS new... Better get this one for the boss. Hopefully he will learn how to send some performance bonuses, or even participative decision making your way. OK, unlikely... but at least you tried...

Big in Asia: 25 Strategies for Business Success New October 2002 - Price $35 - Well that's a bit cheaper.. and co-authored by Aussie author Michael Backman of Asian Eclipse Fame. Haven't got my grubby paws on this one yet, but it sounds fair dinkum. Micheal's a great writer by the way; Im sure his move from politics to strategy will be a bonza one...

The Changing Face of Multinationals in South East Asia (Working in Asia) New October 2002 - Price $95 - Another exccy one, but hey what are expense accounts for.. and your boss will probably thank you for it.. and if you are a boss - maybe could claim this as training expneses for your suffering staff.. (I can hear you reacing for your mouse click button already..)

Souchou Yao's Confucian Capitalism: Discourse, Practice and the Myth of Chinese Enterprise (Chinese Worlds) - Price $90 - Now I always wondered why expatriates all gather around bars talking in hushed revered tones about Chinese entrepreneurs... Yao obviously thinks there's some myth connected to it... Yet another way to become a smarty pants at the Friday night booze up...

The Chastening: Inside the Crisis that Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF - Paul Blustein's insightful analysis of what really happened as global finance took advantage of globalization the best way it could. A thriller. Published October 2001

Asian Post-Crisis Management: Corporate and Governmental Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advantage - Friends of the APMF Usha Haley and Frank-Jürgen Richter edit this straight off the press compendium on competitive strategy in Asia. The best pieces here are original and practical. Highly recommended. Only a few in stock. Published May 2002