U.S. Industry in 2000 Studies in Competitive Performance (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 America's Industrial Resurgence (?): An Overview
1 America's Industrial Resurgence (?): An Overview
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Economy-wide measures paint a mixed picture of performance improvements and structural change since the early 1980s. The trade deficit has grown and hit a record high of $166 billion in 1997.
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The contributors to this volume have each pursued a different approach to 2The industries are chemicals, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, computers, computer disk drives, steel, powdered metallurgy, trucking, financial services, food retailing, and apparel.
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Although entry barriers appear to be high and growing higher in several of the industries discussed in this volume (e.g., chemicals, computer disk drives) , in others a combination of technological developments and regulatory change is promoting the entry of new competitors.
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Mature industries in manufacturing, such as apparel, and in nonmanufacturing, such as trucking, have rejuvenated their performance by adopting technologies developed in other industries. The effects of this intersectoral technology flow are most apparent in the nonmanufacturing industries in this volume (trucking, food retailing, and financial services)
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As the chapter by Landau and Arora on long-term growth in the chemicals industry points out, nontechnological factors, such as trade and regulatory policy, the environment for capital formation and corporate governance, and macroeconomic policy all play important roles in competitive performance, especially over the long run. The Landau-Arora chapter's analysis of long-term industrial performance focuses on a "matrix" of factors that operate at the level of the institutional and policy environment within which firms operate as well as at the level of the firm.
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computer disk drive manufacturers of much of their production and related technology to offshore sites has not "hollowed out" their competitive capabilities. Nor has the withdrawal of most U.S.
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And will such restructuring be an occasional or a continuous process in the future? Moreover, the frequency and nature of such rapid structural change have significant implications for worker skills and employment, an important policy issue that has received little attention in most discussions of "industrial resurgence." CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE INNOVATION PROCESS Since 1980, the structure and management of the innovation process by firms in all eleven of the industries discussed in this volume have changed considerably.
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INDUSTRYIN2000 U.S. firms in many of the industries examined in this volume reacted to intensified competitive pressure and/or declining competitive performance by reducing their investments in research.
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In other industries, such as steel or powdered metallurgy, collaboration with customers has expanded, while the large corporate R&D establishments of integrated steel firms have been drastically reduced. The diversity of institutional actors and relationships in the industrial innovation process has increased considerably, even as the investments by U.S.
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The discussion in these papers of the changing structure of the innovation process also highlights the difficulty of collecting and analyzing data that enable managers and policymakers to assess innovative performance or structural change. As noted earlier, many of the activities contributing to innovation in these industries are not captured by conventional definitions of "R&D." They include investments in human resources and training, the hiring of consultants or specialized providers of technology-intensive services, and the reorganization of business processes.
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The public statistical data on innovative activity that are widely used by scholars, managers, and policymakers thus omit important activities that contribute to innovation. Moreover, their coverage of even conventional it&D-related activities in many of the firms and sectors contributing to innovation in the U.S.
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But the effects of sector-specific technology support policies, such as the defense-related programs of support for disk drive technologies, or even SEMATECH, appear to be more modest in the small number of industries for which they are relevant. Their lack of dramatic effect reflects the tendency for such policies to be episodic or unstable, the relatively small sums of public funds invested in them, and the extremely complex channels through which any effects of such policies are realized.
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After all, the competitive resurgence of many if not most of the industries discussed in this volume reflects superiority in product innovation, market repositioning, and responsiveness to changing markets rather than dramatic improvements in manufacturing performance per se. The improvements in manufacturing that have occurred in industries such as steel or semiconductors have been necessary conditions for competitive resurgence, but they were not sufficient.
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industries reflects significant deterioration in Japan's domestic economy. Recovery in Japan's domestic economy may take time, but it will eventually result in an improved business outlook for many of the firms that were effective foreign competitors of U.S.
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The current environment of intensified international and domestic competition and innovation is a legacy of an extraordinary policy success in the postwar period for which the United States and other industnal-economy governments should claim credit. Trade liberalization, economic reconstruction, and economic development have reduced the importance of immobile assets, such as natural resources, in determining competitive advantage.
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. International Collaborative Ventures in U.S.
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