An in-depth survey amongst nearly 10,000 Harvard Business School alumni decision-makers in October 2011by Professors Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin reveals that 71% of respondents expect U.S. competitiveness to decline over the next three years, with workers’ living standards under greater pressure.
Download 2012 HBS Survey on U.S. Competitiveness
Respondents considered the underlying business environment in America as still strong in critical areas, but not keeping pace with other economies, especially emerging economies. The greatest current or emerging weaknesses were perceived to be in America’s tax code, political system, K-12 education system, macroeconomic policies, legal framework, regulations, infrastructure, and workforce skills.
Interestingly, 42% of relocations out of the United States involved R & D while multi-function
activities as a group were more likely to be considered for relocation out of the U.S. than for
movement into America. (Fig.6). More job-rich activities are moving out than moving in (Fig. 7). The most common negatives for locating businesses in the U.S. are given in a pie chart with over-regulations, relative lack of skills (talent), un-business-friendly tax system, ineffective macro-economics and politics accounting for over 75% (Fig. 13).
"The threat to U.S. competitiveness we face today is far more complex than the one America confronted in the 1980s. Now the challenge is not just from Japan, but from many nations with growing strengths and diverse capabilities. The U.S. government is more fiscally constrained and politically gridlocked than it was three decades ago. Leaders of global enterprises are less invested in the United States, or in any single location, than they were in the 1980s. The problems taking root in the American economy are potentially much more serious. Responsibility for the problems cuts across party lines and involves both the private and the public sectors", says the Survey report.
A host of suggestions for government and for firms is listed at the end. Saner minds should be well-advised to examine the findings of this Survey amidst the political hot air that US jobs and global competitiveness would somehow return if only foreigners like China stop "playing games" with their currencies and "unfair" trade practices.
Best regards,
Andrew
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