n one hand, the forces driving the global economy, especially on the manufacturing front, are so fast-moving and complex, with different regulations, tax systems and laws, that they may seem difficult to grasp and quickly respond to at times. On the other hand, I am struck by how much the basics still matter. Nobody said the ba- sics are easy to deliver in this complex world, of course, but they are still key: Leaders who (duh!) lead. Competent workforces that can deliver in increasingly advanced environments. Lean Plan-Do-Check-Adjust approaches that are not just rooted in management memos but also in a company’s culture—and in reality.
I come to this conclusion not just from observation and experience but also after attend- ing a recent Harvard Business School event on US competitiveness and reading the 2013 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index. That index, from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s Global Manufacturing Industry Group and the US Council on Competitiveness, sees the US, Germany and Japan increasingly challenged by China, Brazil and India. The 2013 GMCI concluded that the No. 1 driver of a nation’s competitiveness is still tal- ent. “The quality and availability of scientists, researchers and engineers and the quality and availability of skilled production workers are ranked as the first and second most important” competitiveness drivers, the report says. Indeed. Just one year ago, the New York Times published an oft-quoted article, “How the US Lost Out on iPhone Work,” which offered evidence that the “industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that ‘Made in the USA’ is no longer a viable option.” At the HBS event, which was held at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, and attended by Michigan’s top business leaders, several HBS professors led a discussion on the nation’s competitive challenges and the obvious importance of manufacturing to US in- novation. But the most passionate and instructive part of the night focused on what lessons could be gleaned from the crash and comeback of the Detroit Three automakers. Based on a show of hands, the audience agreed that the Great Recession wasn’t some black swan event that caused the D3’s troubles. If it wasn’t the recession, it was going to be something else. Decades of mismanagement, pie-in-the-sky promises to labor, incremental turnaround plans and lack of foresight were an inevitable path to crisis. The problems were solved not just by massive restructurings, which finally acknowledged the depths of their troubles, but also by strong leadership, plans based in reality and competent execution, among other things. In other words: The basics.
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