- InsightThe Influence of Harvard Business School
Upon graduation, many of these students would like to work in America, but have to leave the country when their student visa expires. They become business leaders in their home country or elsewhere, instead of building American companies and helping our competitiveness.
- InsightWhy is improving U.S. competitiveness important to the rest of the world?
Interviews conducted with alumni and business leaders at the March 5, 2012 U.S. Competitiveness: Paths Forward event in New York City.
- InsightWhat is the state of U.S. competitiveness today?
Interviews conducted with alumni and business leaders at the March 5, 2012 U.S. Competitiveness: Paths Forward event in New York City.
- InsightWhat are the strengths and weaknesses that affect America's competitiveness?
Interviews conducted with alumni and business leaders at the March 5, 2012 U.S. Competitiveness: Paths Forward event in New York City.
- InsightU.S. Competitiveness Project—A Need for Systems Thinking
The current state of U.S. competitiveness is not the problem, but rather, a symptom of a larger systemic one, says Andrew McKeon, founder of business-climate.com. Fixing U.S. competitiveness will require a systems perspective much broader and more holistic than American management has practiced in the last 40 years.
- InsightImproving the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
We could see even more fast-growth tech companies if the policy environment appropriately reflected the needs of early-stage entrepreneurs. David Teten, a Partner with ff Venture Capital, showcases initiatives that are having a positive impact.
- AbstractThe Looming Challenge to U.S. Competitiveness
Professors Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin frame the HBS project on U.S. competitiveness by defining "competitiveness," assessing the state of U.S. competitiveness, and pinpointing dynamics that threaten America's competitiveness.
- AbstractFixing What's Wrong with U.S. Politics
In thinking about the competitiveness of a nation, analysts commonly focus on economic factors, such as exports, unit labor costs, and fiscal policy, among others. “Politics” is not typically high on the list, if it appears at all, observes Professor David Moss.
- AbstractReviving Entrepreneurship
Professors Josh Lerner and William A. Sahlman explore the role of entrepreneurial ventures in addressing pressing problems like energy, the environment, healthcare, and education, while also driving productivity and domestic job growth in the U.S..
- ForumShattering the Myths About U.S. Trade Policy
The United States economy has to grow faster than its long-run potential to absorb its high levels of unemployment, argue Robert Z. Lawrence and Lawrence Edwards.
- AbstractHow to Make Finance Work
Professors Robin Greenwood and David Scharfstein make recommendations in three important domains in which the U.S. financial system has underperformed: financial stability, housing finance, and investment costs.
- AbstractMacroeconomic Policy and U.S. Competitiveness
Across the political spectrum, there is consensus that the United States faces challenges to its competitiveness. Current U.S. fiscal policy is, unfortunately, part of the problem rather than the solution, according to Professors Richard H.K. Vietor and Matthew C. Weinzierl.
- AbstractChoosing the United States
Over the last four decades companies have dispersed more and more of their activities across the globe. Data and analysis from Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin suggest that the U.S. is losing out on location decisions at an alarming rate, even for high value adding activities such as R&D that it should be able to attract.
- AbstractA Jobs Compact for America's Future
It’s generally understood that the United States can’t be competitive—and won’t be able to support high, and rising, living standards—without a well trained, well paid, and continuously improving workforce that can compete with the best that other countries have to offer. Yet, at all levels of the economy, we behave as if we don’t believe this, opines Thomas A. Kochan.
- AbstractThe Incentive Bubble
The last three decades have seen American capitalism transformed by a simple idea—that the evaluation and compensation of managers and investors should be outsourced to financial markets, says Professor Mihir A. Desai.
- AbstractDoes America Really Need Manufacturing?
Manufacturing matters to a nation’s economic prosperity, not because it is an important source of jobs (it currently represents only about 10% of US employment) but because manufacturing competence is often an integral part of innovation. By Professors Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih.
- AbstractEnriching the Ecosystem
Innovation, the classic basis for U.S. success in world markets, rests on foundational institutions, such as research centers, incubators for entrepreneurs, and skills training vehicles, that provide fertile soil in which to seed, grow, and renew enterprises, writes Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
- AbstractGreen Rules to Drive Innovation
Daniel C. Esty and Steve Charnovitz argue that a commitment to sustainability and strong environmental results will likely enhance national as well as company-scale competitiveness.
- AbstractRethinking School
The United States must recognize that our long-term growth depends on dramatically increasing the quality of our K-12 public education system, according to Stacey Childress.
Paths Forward participants discuss ways to improve U.S. Competitiveness
More than 600 leaders from business, government, and academia came together at the U.S. Competitiveness Project's inaugural Paths Forward event in New York City on March 5, 2012 to explore solutions and possible commitments they are willing to take to restore America's competitive stance. Two panels - one of HBS faculty, another of New York City leaders - discussed research-based recommendations as well as actions already in place, which are aimed at improving America's competitiveness.
Dean Nitin Nohria on the U.S. Competitiveness Project
What can Americans — especially those in the business world — do to increase the ability of U.S. firms to compete successfully in the global economy while raising American living standards?
This is one of the most important and challenging questions facing society today. The Harvard Business School's U.S. Competitiveness Project, led by Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin, will engage some of the world's greatest thinkers to assess U.S. competitiveness and develop actionable recommendations to change America's trajectory.
The opportunity to change the trajectory of competitiveness in America
In an interview with Justin Fox of Harvard Business Review, Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin define U.S. competitiveness, explain why it’s crucial to look at drivers of competitiveness holistically, and call upon all Americans, especially those in business, to meet the competitiveness challenge by turning strategy into action.
“While government policy sets the stage, it is companies that ultimately win or lose in the marketplace,” says Professor Porter.
