Challenge

Results for Challenge
  • Media
    George Sees `Tradeoff' in Surveillance, Security

    Harvard Business School Professor Bill George speaks on Bloomberg about NSA surveillance, the vetting of contractors for intel outsourcing, and the role the auto industry can play in renewing U.S. Competitiveness.

  • Media
    America's Competitive Nature Is at Risk

    The United States is losing its competitiveness in the world economy. Sadly, instead of leading the innovation charge in the twenty-first century, we are becoming victims of policies that restrict our entrepreneurial roots.

  • Media
    Workers worldwide are losing ground on wages

    Competition from China and other low-wage rivals, coupled with fallout from the 2007-'09 financial crisis, has put American wages under such unprecedented strain that they have shifted into reverse -- not merely stagnating, but falling.

  • Media
    US Back on Top in World Competitiveness Ranking

    Now that financial markets have recovered and business efficiency and profitability have revived, the U.S. has regained its dominant position, according to IMD.

  • Media
    Alarming Competitive Weakness In U.S. Capital Markets

    U.S. capital market competitiveness weakened in the first quarter of 2013, when all 20 of the largest IPOs conducted worldwide occurred outside of the U.S., extending a declining trend in market competitiveness from 2012, according to the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.

  • Media
    New Study Shows U.S. Legal System is a Competitive Liability

    The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform suggests that civil justice reform would play an important role in increasing the global competitiveness of American businesses.

  • Media
    Toward a More Competitive US

    At an event at Harvard Business School that was three parts analysis and one part rally, participants tried to chart a new path forward for the sluggish U.S. economy — a move that may require a new definition of "competitiveness."

  • Media
    Making the United States Competitive

    Business leaders expect the nation's competitiveness to deteriorate, with companies less able to compete globally, pay workers well, or both, according to a new report released by Harvard Business School.

  • Media
    U.S. Broadband Policy and Competitiveness

    Some experts fear the United States is falling behind other developed nations in broadband adoption and performance, but others say such concerns are often exaggerated and unsupported by analysis.

  • Media
    US economy: wake-up call for Washington

    The US is becoming less competitive partly because it refuses to address mounting debt problems. Federal policymakers in Washington DC have to make some tough choices to put the nation's finances in order and improve economic prospects.

  • Media
    America's real infrastructure test

    America's public infrastructure — roads, bridges, airports, seaports, waterways and even sidewalks — is a mess. You can see it for yourself every day. It's not just a nuisance; it's bad for our economy.

  • Media
    Is The United States Ready To Take Manufacturing Back?

    The return of a few companies' manufacturing is encouraging. But the big question is: To what extent is the United States capable of taking back manufacturing on a significant scale? The challenges are great.

  • Media
    Defining a Microeconomic Strategy for Global Competitiveness

    The United States has been using fiscal and monetary solutions as a base for its economic growth policy. But these macroeconomic strategies by itself are not leading to long-term growth. If we want to create more jobs, increase per capita income and reduce poverty, we need a shift in focus towards regions as the drivers of the national economy.

  • Media
    As FCC Chairman Leaves Post, Challenges Persist in Broadband Expansion

    Current policy measures will accomplish only the bare minimum to improve U.S. competitiveness in the global information economy. According to recent FCC data, gigabit broadband connections are available in only about 40 communities across 15 states.

  • Media
    UK beats US to become fifth top tourist destination in the world

    The United Kingdom has beaten the United States to become the fifth top tourist destination in the world, according to a new report.

  • Media
    A Half Century Never Looked So Old

    The US has an international tax system that puts American companies and workers at a disadvantage as they try to compete in a new world.

  • Media
    Current fiscal policy harms U.S. competitiveness

    Political skirmishes and impasses around short-term events are distracting us from the real danger ahead: Our reckless fiscal trajectory that threatens America's competitiveness. Insights by David Walker and Robert Kaplan.

  • Media
    Study Gives High Marks to U.S. Internet

    Contradicting earlier studies, conventional wisdom and politicians' rhetoric, European researchers say that the Internet infrastructure of the United States is one of the world's best and getting better.

  • Media

    Housing prices in Silicon Valley remain defiantly high. New BMWs and Saabs cruise Highway 101. But for the first time there are signs that the current economic downturn is taking its toll on the country's cradle of technology and innovation.

  • Media
    Our Challenge in an Era of Global Competition

    For innovation, entrepreneurship, and startups, the U.S. continues to be unparalleled. But in spreading economic benefits broadly throughout the economy, we have not done well the last 30 years.

  • Media
    U.S. Losing Ground from Higher Corporate Tax Rate

    The U.S. economy will be between 1.5 and 2.6 percent smaller over the long-term because other nations' corporate tax rates are considerably more competitive, according to a new study by Ernst & Young and the RATE Coalition, a group lobbying for lower corporate tax rates.

  • Media
    Harvard Survey: Have the United States lost its edge?

    The news from Washington certainly isn't very good. Intransigence and partisan politics are really just distracting us from what's really important — our lack of competitiveness in the world. Have we lost our edge? Harvard Business School's Michael Porter, Jan Rivken and Rosabeth Moss Kanter seem to think so.

  • Media
    Harvard Survey: U.S. Competitiveness at a Crossroads

    Concerned about long-term structural issues such as the educational system, the tax code, and partisan politics, business leaders are continuing to voice pessimism about the state and direction of U.S.competitiveness, according to a new survey by the Harvard Business School (

  • Media
    Harvard poll: U.S. losing its zeal

    Business leaders are warning that the federal budget morass is one symptom of a far more troubling problem: long-term challenges to U.S. competitiveness that are sapping America's strengths, according to a Harvard Business School survey.

  • Media
    The Public Has No Idea How Much Of A Threat Emerging Markets Are To The US

    Recently, the results of the second year of Harvard Business School's survey on US competitiveness were released. This time, in addition to asking both the public and of business leaders how the economy was doing, the survey asked their opinions of specific policies.

  • Media
    Video: US Crisis Like Villian in a Horror Movie

    Jan Rivkin, professor and chair of the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School, discusses the structural issues facing the United States and as a result, the multiple short term crises. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers."

  • Media
    Video: U.S. Competitiveness Project on Charlie Rose

    Michael Porter, University professor at Harvard, talks to Charlie Rose about the United States in the global economy.

  • Media
    Why the Middle Class Is Declining: Michael Porter

    The American middle class is "hollowing out" as the U.S. economy fails to compete effectively in a globalized world, Harvard economist Michael Porter told CNBC's "Closing Bell" this week.

  • Media
    What the Superdome Blackout Says About American Competitiveness

    The electrical blackout at the Super Bowl wasn't about New Orleans. It speaks more to the pressing challenge of ensuring our infrastructure is capable of enabling America to be competitive in a global economy.

  • Media
    GDP contracts, jobs outlook sours

    Weak conditions abroad and flagging U.S. competitiveness caused exports to contract $27 billion and businesses anticipating a further slowdown slashed inventories by $40 billion in the fourth quarter.

  • Media
    Erskine Bowles: National Debt Threatens U. S. Innovation

    Mounting debt obligations threaten the very foundation of US business, placing at risk our competitiveness and innovation leadership in the world.

  • Media
    The Economist: An Eight-Point Plan to Restore American Competitiveness

    Harvard Business School Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin lay out policy steps for the president and Congress to follow in order to make American companies more competitive and their employees more prosperous.

  • Media
    American Competitiveness Crucial to US Economy

    In this video from the Nightly Business Report, Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter says the US needs to make structural changes to restore its competitiveness.

  • Media
    Faster, Sooner: Why The U.S. Needs 'Gigabit Communities'

    FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says making sure that the U.S. has super-fast, high-capacity, ubiquitous broadband networks is essential to economic growth, job creation, and U.S. competitiveness.

  • Media
    Balancing US competitiveness, coveted summer vacation at heart of longer school year debate

    Longer winter breaks and shorter summer vacations are ideas being tested around the country as school districts debate whether to extend the school year.

  • Media
    American Competitiveness Report--An Issue of National Security

    Our ability to compete in a global economy, attract the world's brightest workers and nurture a functional political system is slipping. This weakness is now at a point where it threatens to erode the pillars upon which America's national security rests. America's competitiveness is now a matter of national security.

  • Media
    Setting the Stage: Reviving US Competitiveness and Economic Growth

    Until recently, the debate about tax reform has focused mostly on the corporate side and mostly on the international side, but in the negotiations about the fiscal cliff, the debate has moved into a discussion about individual taxation.

  • Media
    For D.C. freshmen, a crash course in U.S. competitiveness

    Two Harvard Business School professors warn a group of incoming congressional freshmen that it would be a mistake to separate concerns about the economy from the broader and increasingly urgent problem of America's waning competitiveness in the global world of business.

  • Media
    Intel report sees U.S. losing superpower status by 2030

    A report by the National Intelligence Council predicts that the United States will lose its superpower status by 2030, but that no country -- including China -- will be a hegemonic power. Instead, the report says, power will shift to "networks and coalitions in a multipolar world."

  • Media
    Seattle competitive today; what about future?

    The Puget Sound region, for all its strengths, is only a few Chinese leaps in software, airplanes and biotechnology from becoming Akron, Ohio, with ferries, columnist Jon Talton says.

  • Media
    What Washington must do now

    America's success in restoring competitiveness will define the opportunities and economic mobility of American citizens as well as America's influence in the world, according to Harvard Business School's Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin.

  • Media
    Michael Porter on Competitiveness

    Video Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter, a co-leader of the United States Competitiveness Project, suggests three simple and bipartisan actions that may help boost productivity in the US.

  • Media
    Increasing US Competitiveness: Building a New Relationship Between Business and Academia

    At Rochester Institute of Technology, working together with several corporate representatives, we have developed a template agreement in which the university agrees to a different kind of research relationship with an interested company.

  • Media
    Increasing US Competitiveness: Building a New Relationship Between Business and Academia

  • Media
    U.S. Economy Faces Challenges But Optimism Remains

    The United States faces a number of steep economic challenges to its continued economic growth, but a group of business and policy experts said they believe the Obama administration, working with Congress, can solve daunting short-term issues that threaten to derail economic recovery.

  • Media
    Competition on the Cliff

    Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter on US competitiveness and the "fiscal cliff."

  • Media
    CEOs Discuss U.S. Competitiveness

    Video Samuel R. Allen, chief executive officer for Deere & Co., James Hagedorn, CEO for Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., Keith D. Nosbusch, CEO for Rockwell Automation Inc., Michael E. Porter, professor at Harvard Business School, and Edward M. Smith, CEO for Ullico, Inc., talk about U.S. productivity and economic growth outlook. They speak at the National Competitiveness Forum in Washington. Bloomberg's Al Hunt moderates.

  • Media
    Fortune: What Business Should Do to Restore US Competitiveness

    It's time for business to lead in restoring American competitiveness, rather than waiting for Washington to act, write Harvard Business School professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin.

  • Media
    Obama's 4 Biggest Economic Challenges

    A recent survey of Harvard Business School graduates found 58 percent expect U.S. competitiveness to worsen over the next three years. This would be a good time for Obama to prove them wrong.

  • Media
    Protecting the American Dream Should Be the President's Top Priority

    For the first time in our lives, the promise of upward mobility -- the core of the American Dream -- can no longer be taken for granted. The top priority for President Obama is to enact policies that support job growth and reduce worker anxieties.

  • Media
    Report: U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing on the wane

    The United States will slip to fifth place from third in manufacturing competitiveness in the next five years as India and Brazil race ahead, according to a report published Friday.

  • Media
    Harvard on Detroit: It's a long road to recovery, but our "Vacancy" sign is clear to all

    Wanna be a rock star? Come to Detroit. That's one takeaway a group of Harvard Business School professors had Thursday night during a presentation on their year-long project on U.S. competitiveness.

  • Media
    Many U.S. shippers face limited rail choices

    Shippers say the limited choices many face give railroads too much power, which allows them to dictate price increases or arbitrarily impose extra fees, such as for diesel fuel to power their locomotives.

  • Media
    Many U.S. shippers face limited rail choices

    Shippers say the limited choices many face give railroads too much power, which allows them to dictate price increases or arbitrarily impose extra fees, such as for diesel fuel to power their locomotives.

  • Media
    How the United States Can Maintain Its Global Edge

    Over the next four years, U.S. President Barack Obama has an opportunity to help the U.S. remain competitive in a rapidly globalizing, recalibrating world.

  • Media
    U.S. businesses seek a more competitive economy

    Next week, a coalition of business leaders will press a longer-term to-do list on Washington's politicians. Its 200 items include cutting corporate taxes, streamlining regulations, upgrading the nation's crumbling infrastructure and creating a more highly skilled workforce.

  • Media
    To Lead Change as an Incumbent, Obama Needs New Allies

    In an open letter to President Obama, Rosabeth Moss Kanter advises, "You have been reelected at a time when no one is satisfied with the status quo. You must show that your are serious about solving problems by a willingness to act quickly on a big, national campaign to get action throughout the country."

  • Media
    The Risks of Reviving a Revived Economy

    History shows that four to five years after a financial crisis is usually when a country either moves slowly but surely into a sustained recovery or lapses back into recession.

  • Media
    A New U.S. War: Restoring Our Competitiveness

    If the United States economy is to restore itself to earlier levels of full employment, prosperity and financial soundness, the American manufacturing community must engage in a national effort to resurrect its global competitiveness.

  • Media
    A New U.S. War: Restoring Our Competitiveness

    If the United States economy is to restore itself to earlier levels of full employment, prosperity and financial soundness, the American manufacturing community must engage in a national effort to resurrect its global competitiveness.

  • Media
    WSJ: Executives Lack Confidence in U.S. Competitiveness - Survey

    Executives from around the world are profoundly pessimistic about the ability of companies operating in the U.S. to compete in the global economy and to pay high wages to American workers, a survey of more than 6,800 Harvard Business School alumni found.

  • Insight
    The U.S. Competitiveness Project—View From The Field

    Harvard Business School alumna Chitra Nawbatt provides a "view from the field" as the School continues its U.S. Competitiveness Project.

  • Media
    National leaders meet to discuss manufacturing innovation

    A group of national leaders seeking to make the United States more globally competitive chose Lehigh University for their venue this week when they met to discuss manufacturing and innovation. The event was sponsored by the Washington D.C.-based Council on Competitiveness, the Allentown, Pa.-based company Air Products, and Lehigh.

  • Media
    Common ground key to building businesses

    Harvard Business School's U.S. Competitiveness Project aims to engage local leaders, find paths to prosperity

  • Media
    Sharpening America's Competitive Edge

    Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria and Professor Michael Porter discuss America's declining competitiveness and possible solutions. Their appearance begins at about the 1:20 mark.

  • Media
    Jeff Immelt gives positive assessment of U.S. economy

    The chairman and CEO of General Electric outlined five areas where he believes the United States needs improvement: the number of math and science majors should double, the manufacturing sector should increase, globalization has to be accepted, energy independence is necessary, and the value placed on training and education should be greater.

  • Media
    Video: Forum on American Competitiveness

    Speakers at the forum included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter; and Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson. Former presidential advisor David Gergen moderated the event.

  • Media
    Harvard's 'wise men' tell Silicon Valley: Our country is losing its competitiveness

    Three Harvard Business School professors made a stop in Silicon Valley to warn that the economic competitiveness of the United States is lagging. Their message was laced with hopes that entrepreneurship will save the country, but the facts they carried with them would depress members of any political party.

  • Media
    Deloitte : US Must Transcend Political Gridlock to Address America's Unemployment

    Job creation in the United States is hampered by supply and demand, but not in a traditional sense, according to new research from Deloitte. Specifically, the demand for highly skilled and adaptable workers is accelerating, but the skill set of the country's available talent is either outdated or out of stock, Deloitte reports.

  • Media
    Survey finds US competitive ranking down again

    The United States' ability to compete on the global stage has fallen for the fourth year running as confidence in the country's politicians continues to decline, an annual survey from the World Economic Forum found Wednesday.

  • Media
    A New Look at U.S. Economic Competitiveness

    Michael Porter and his colleagues at Harvard Business School have taken a new look at national competitiveness, one that raises deep questions about our economy, our businesses, and our politics.

  • Media
    Obesity weighs down U.S. competitiveness

    Business groups complain that taxes, regulations and unfair trade practices hurt their international competitiveness. Now, we can add the weight of the American workforce to that list.

  • Media
    US lags behind in broadband access

    The US is still lagging behind other developed nations in levels of broadband internet availability. Nineteen million Americans still lack broadband access, according to the Eight Broadband Progress Report, issued by the Federal Communications Commission.

  • Media
    Transportation choke points could threaten global competitiveness of U.S. soybeans

    The United Soybean Board reports that transportation reliability and efficiency will be taxed as soybean production and global demand rises, threatening the agricultural product's ability to remain competitive on a worldwide scale.

  • Media
    Can America Compete? Strategies for Economic Revival

    Does the United States face insoluble economic challenges? In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession, growth has been sluggish--with unemployment devastating far too many Americans. Yet the real problem, obscured by this acute, cyclical downturn, may be a long-term erosion of competitiveness in a more challenging global economic era.

  • Forum
    America's Prosperity Depends on Outwitting Our Broken Political System

    Nearly every member of Congress has blocked steps that would help their constituents prosper. The answer? Sol Erdman and Lawrence Susskind discuss advocacy plans for the Center for Collaborative Democracy.

  • Media
    Crowd Sourced Innovation and competitiveness: How to encourage the next great U.S. inventions

    Few doubt that to grow, the nation must innovate -- but how? We invite readers to post their specific ideas for accelerating development of the products, technologies and ideas we need to compete in global markets.

  • Media
    We're number ... 24? How the U.S. stacks up

    As the United States celebrates its independence, where does it stand in the world? The glut of global rankings generated by think tanks, nonprofit groups and global agencies gives a jumbled picture of how the U.S. stacks up on everything from happiness to health spending.

  • Media
    New York, London and Tokyo most competitive cities in the world: CASS

    Among cities, New York, London and Tokyo are some of the strongest competitors in the world. Even so, their dominance is being threatened by the ongoing economic crisis, a top Chinese think tank said in a report.

  • Media
    Harvard's prescription for a broken American political system

    Is there any hope for America's political process? Not much, was the answer from the group of Harvard Business School faculty gathered in Washington D.C.'s Newseum last week.

  • Media
    Harvard Business School to Convene More Than 400 Leaders in Washington to Discuss the Business and Politics of Improving U.S. Competitiveness

    Leaders from the U.S. Senate, Small Business Administration, media, business and labor will join HBS in an interactive discussion about areas of agreement around the actionable steps that can be taken to address America's structural competitiveness challenges

  • Media
    Can the U.S. Revitalize its Infrastructure?

    Pushing the limits of an aging infrastructure, U.S. manufacturers face a future of increasing costs and instability unless new technologies and new investments can rejuvinate the system.

  • Media
    Pew survey finds China seen as top economic power

    For the first time, people responding to a global survey are more likely to view China and not the United States as the world's leading economic power.

  • Media
    America has more competitive advantages than we may think.

    U.S. competitiveness was ranked second for 2011 for by the IMD, behind Hong Kong. The bad news is that it was first in 2010 and most years before, but it's worth contemplating the advantages that a group of international business executives and analysts still can find in the U.S. economy.

  • Media
    Morning Joe: Fundamental Changes Required to Boost US Competitiveness

    Professor Michael Porter joins a roundtable discussion on a potential Romney administration, Wall Street regulations, and the fundamental issues facing the US as a worldwide economic competitor. The 7-minute conversation on competitiveness begins at about the 8:40 mark of the video.

  • Media
    America is losing the cybersecurity war; China hacked every major US company .

    Four top government cybersecurity officials say America is getting attacked by nation state hackers and is vulnerable to much more.

  • 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.

  • Media
    How Can the U.S. Stay Competitive? Professor Jan Rivkin and Others at HBS Explore Problems and Potential Solutions

  • Media
    What Business Would Do to Restore U.S. Competitiveness

    CEOs are waking up to the idea that companies have a role to play in addressing weaknesses in the business environment — in the United States or elsewhere — and that business needs to invest in the "commons" to prosper, not just pursue its narrow self-interest. By Harvard Business School's Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin.

  • Media
    U.S. Competitiveness: What American Business Can and Should Do (In Its Own Interests)

    The Harvard Business School's U.S. Competitiveness Project is challenging beliefs that have become deeply ingrained among many U.S. business leaders as the global economy has expanded and growth has accelerated in emerging markets.

  • Media
    Why Companies Are Leaving the United States, and How to Get Them Back

    Why are big companies not investing more in the United States? Findings from Harvard Business School's U.S. Competitiveness Project were discussed at a fascinating meeting of business leaders in New York Monday evening.

  • Media
    HBS Urges Business to Take Lead in Reviving US Competitiveness

    At an HBS-hosted event devoted to action, not academics, more than 600 New York City business and civic leaders gathered at Lincoln Center Monday evening to explore causes and business-led solutions to the nation's decline in global competitiveness.

  • Media
    Harvard Alumni Urged to Help the U.S. Compete

    When a business school solicits alumni, it's usually to ask for donations. Last night, though, the school hit them up for something they may find harder to give: a commitment to use whatever influence they have to get their companies to invest in the local workforce, raise U.S. median wages, and support local suppliers.

  • Media
    U.S. Competitiveness Report Cites Business Fears

    Harvard Business School professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin released a new report (PDF) where business community respondents suggest the root of U.S. competitiveness problems may lie in the country's tax code, political system, K-12 education, macroeconomic policies, legal framework, regulations, infrastructure, and workforce skills.

  • Research
    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.

  • Research
    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.

  • Research
    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.

  • Research
    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.