Forum

  • Insight
    The 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.

  • Insight
    Why 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.

  • Insight
    What 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.

  • Insight
    What 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.

  • Insight
    U.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.

  • Conversation
    How has the U.S. political system affected your business recently?

    We want to hear from you. Join the conversation on U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Conversation
    Is entrepreneurial thinking critical to business success?

    We want to hear from you. Join the conversation on U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Conversation
    How should our energy policy be shaped to help U.S. companies be more competitive in the global marketplace?

    We want to hear from you. Join the conversation on U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Insight
    Improving 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.

  • Conversation
    Tell us your ideas on how to improve entrepreneurship in the U.S.

    We want to hear from you. Join the conversation on U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Conversation
    What is one thing businesses could do to improve our nation's trajectory?

    We want to hear from you. Join the conversation on U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Abstract
    The 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.

  • Abstract
    Fixing 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.

  • Abstract
    Reviving 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..

  • Forum
    Shattering 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.

  • Abstract
    How 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.

  • Abstract
    Macroeconomic 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.

  • Abstract
    Choosing 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.

  • Abstract
    A 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.

  • Abstract
    The 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.

  • Abstract
    Does 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.

  • Abstract
    Enriching 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.

  • Abstract
    Green 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.

  • Abstract
    Rethinking 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.