Skip to main content

Diigo Home

Finally, A CEO Speaks Up on How to Renew America - HBR Editors' Blog - Harvard... - The Diigo Meta page

blogs.harvardbusiness.org/...ly_a_ceo_speaks_up_on_how.html - Cached

This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 07 Jul 2009, by Yule Heibel.

  • 07 Jul 09
    lampertina
    Yule Heibel

    Timely.
    QUOTE
    Immelt exhorted Americans to give up the notion that the U.S. can make it as a services-led, consumption-based economy, where "a mortgage broker is pulling down $5 million a year while a Ph.D. chemist is earning $100,000."

    The country must refocus on manufacturing and R&D and must strive to be a leading exporter, he said. He announced that GE was opening an advanced manufacturing and software technology center outside of Detroit near the headquarters of Visteon, the auto parts maker that recently sought bankruptcy protection.

    Coincidentally, "Restoring American Competitiveness," an article in the July-August special issue of the Harvard Business Review makes the same case about the importance of manufacturing. It warns that the erosion of the U.S. manufacturing base is seriously undermining the country's ability to innovate. (So much for the idea that we can succeed by letting other countries manufacture the products we invent!)

    In his speech, Immelt offered a vision for how the business and government together can revive the economy and solve grand challenges such as clean energy and affordable health care. "We should welcome the government as a catalyst for leadership and change," he said, calling for a "real public-private partnership." (This from a self-described "Republican and free market guy.")
    UNQUOTE

    This article fits nicely with Konrad Yakabuski Globe & Mail article, "Canada's Innovation Gap." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/canadas-innovation-gap/article1203108/

    harvard_business steve_prokesch america economy renewal innovation manufacturing video