The book offers a three-page report on each of the 100 companies, most of which trade on U.S. markets. Among the top 100 are many household names, from Heineken to Sony. Aside from providing investment leads, the book is a fascinating tour of companies that are shaping the world's economic future. Many U.S. investors believe that their international mutual fund allows them to profit from the economic transformations taking place in dynamo economies such as China, Poland, or South Africa. Many of those investors are wrong.
Most international funds invest primarily in Western Europe and Japan.
Many funds have little or no exposure to emerging economies, where the greatest growth is to be found. Investing in emerging markets often takes extra effort and also extra appetite for risk, as recent meltdowns in Indonesia and Russia have once again made clear. A couple of recent books are helpful to those who believe the effort and risk is worth it. J. Mark Mobius is the globetrotting manager of emerging-markets portfolios for the Templeton group of mutual funds. In his Mobius on Emerging Markets , he gracefully describes the demographic, technological, and ideological trends that have been accelerating growth in what was once known as the Third World.