With no choice but to go it alone after the enforced severance from Malaysia in the mid-1960s, the tiny island of Singapore with a population of less than three million and no natural resources, not only survived but has prospered to an extent that it has become one of the Asia-Pacific region's leading economies, as well as perhaps the envy of other bigger countries.

Numerous accounts of the so-called 'economic miracle' are available in many forms, including government-prepared information. Geoffrey Murray's study, however, offers one of the best structured and objective analyses of the 'Global City-State' to be published in recent years.

For example, he examines the 'Growth Triangle' through the eyes of the companies who have gone into the Indonesian and Johor legs of the triangle; he also makes a detailed analysis of the government incentives to regionalize if not 'globalize' the Singapore economy through such concepts as 'Singapore Unlimited'.

In addition, the book offers one of the most comprehensive studies available of Singapore manufacturing, with sector-by-sector analysis, including separate chapters on the electronics and IT industry, both of which will play a key role in Singapore's continued success for the rest of the century.

Singapore: The Global City-State is essential reading for the corporate sector that is planning to develop Pacific-Rim business, as well as existing practitioners and students of the region looking for an informed overview of the current and future prospects of the world's most successful city-state.