A Recovery Squandered

Michael E. Porter; Jan   Rivkin; Mihir   Desai; Katherine M. Gehl; William R. Kerr; Manjari  Raman

Report | 2019

A Recovery Squandered: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2019

by Michael E. Porter, Jan Rivkin, Mihir Desai, Katherine M. Gehl, William R. Kerr and Manjari Raman

Abstract

In this report, the authors synthesize their views on U.S. competitiveness and unveil the findings of the 2019 HBS surveys on U.S. competitiveness. Specifically, this report—built on the survey findings and eight years of prior research on the competitiveness of the United States—highlights a disturbing pattern: despite a decade of steady economic growth since the Great Recession, America has done remarkably little to address underlying structural weaknesses in the country’s economy and society. The nation has squandered the recovery.

Keywords: U.S. competitiveness; Competitive Strategy; Macroeconomics; Government and Politics; United States;

Language: English

Format: Print

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Citation:

Porter, Michael E., Jan Rivkin, Mihir Desai, Katherine M. Gehl, William R. Kerr, and Manjari Raman. "A Recovery Squandered: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2019." Report, U.S. Competitiveness Project, Harvard Business School, December 2019.

China's digital commerce platforms engage billions of consumers daily across a number of routine tasks from banking, retail purchases, travel, gaming, payments, and more. These platforms are the most sophisticated/informed and highest performing/capable in the world. While often business leaders refer to Amazon as a leader in digital exchange, this case highlights the vital areas where the Chinese platforms lead. Of special note is the merging of the retailers' on and offline capabilities into a unified consumer experience. Retailers like Walmart China have fundamentally altered their business model and federated with these Chinese platforms to build a better consumer experience, sell more, and manage costs and investment. While not all of these practices are globalizing, the non-China platforms are copying them fast to reach the new global standards. Leaders need to be informed and respond.

Consumer products companies were beset by changes on all sides during the 2010s. Customers were increasingly turning to ecommerce platforms rather than shopping in-store. Meanwhile, nimble, digitally-savvy competitors were gaining market share by capitalizing on the troves of newly available data on consumer preferences. Alibaba was the largest ecommerce platform company globally and operated in China, which was seen by many as an image of the future of western markets. In 2017, Alibaba launched the Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) which provided a range of services to support innovation for companies selling through the Tmall business-to-consumer platform. These included robust consumer insights backed by data from across Alibaba and mechanisms to rapidly solicit customer feedback. Armed with the TMIC, consumer products companies were learning that effectively targeting consumer preferences required a new approach to product development which had far-reaching implications across roles, skills, and organizational structure.

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A Recovery Squandered: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2019

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