US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Here's the bigger picture--blandly described as "pessimism about US competitiveness."
I had a depressing conversation recently with someone in a retail business that's been successfully expanding into southern Europe and Africa. He's just about had it with trying to do business in the United States.
He was hesitant to explain why--he didn't want to be rude to me or insult me, he said. I told him not to worry, I wouldn't take it personally. Was it the regulatory environment, I asked? The tax code?
Not so much, he said. It was that Americans didn't work that hard and didn't understand business. They hadn't yet grasped that they were facing competition from people who were a lot hungrier to make money than they were.
They didn't pick up the phone promptly when he called. They didn't seem to be able to do anything quickly. They were strangely passive and resistant to new ideas. They were hopeless at coming up with good marketing strategies. "They still think that people will want to do business with them just because they're American and they exist."
They didn't seem to understand the importance of evaluating whether what they were doing made economic sense. He kept hearing, "Well, we've always done it this way," or "You don't understand, the economy is really bad right now." And he's thinking--bad economy? The people I work with where per capita GDP is $3,000 dollars a year aren't giving me that line.
I'm thinking about that and wondering what it means. I haven't spent enough time in his line of work really to be able to appraise it. He may be sensing something very real--or he may be rationalizing his failure to break into the US market.
It's considered pretty much a truism around here that America's superpower days are over. Whether that's reality or fantasy, I couldn't say, but I can say that I'd get this impression from reading American newspapers. Increasingly, it just sounds Third World.
I have a lot of experience, though, of discovering that things are not the way you'd think they'd be from reading local newspapers. So who knows.
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Dec '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Large corporations very much frown on doing things 'outside of process.'
But process is why large corporations can maximize their economy of scale.
May '10
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Go into a supermarket in thaliand and count the number of products made in the USA. Then count the number made in Germany , Greece, new Zealand etc. It isn't encouraging.
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Well, it is discouraging, I agree, but it's not the only thing to look at--it's only hugely important if you're persuaded the US needs to be a strong exporter to have a strong economy, which isn't necessarily so. I mean, foreign trade is what--13 percent of GDP?
But yes, it feels discouraging.
Mar '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Claire, to paraphrase Paul Harvey, the old time radio commentator, there is more to the story. If you read Carroll Quigley, who did seminal work on the life cycle of civilizations, we are part of Western Civilization. WC is one of 19 civilizations that he identified and studied. We are the only civilization that has gone through more than one cycle. In fact we are just ending a cycle. At this time we are in a period of confusion where some want to "eat the seedcorn" and quit the cycle while others are gearing up for another go around. You and others are entirely correct in seeing a dying civilization yet you have missed or undervalued the evidence that others are being reborn. Which side will win? That seems to be the question on everyone's mind. Me? I suspect re-birthers will prevail. Further, I suspect that our problems are entirely political in the larger sense. Notice that during the 20th Century we made great scientific, technical and economic progress while our politicians led us from the extreme growth of the 19th Century to the mess we are in today.
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
I wouldn't be in a good position to see the evidence--it's very hard to understand what's going on, really, if you don't live in a country, and I haven't lived in the US for a long time. I'm reporting the perspective from here--which may be interesting and of value, or may be shallow and distorted.
Apr '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Well, it is discouraging, I agree, but it's not the only thing to look at--it's only hugely important if you're persuaded the US needs to be a strong exporter to have a strong economy, which isn't necessarily so. I mean, foreign trade is what--13 percent of GDP?
But yes, it feelsdiscouraging. · 13 minutes ago
More specifically, if you feel that US agriculture exports are necessarily America's future. Happily, with the likely phased end of agricultural subsidies if we win in November, we'll see a lot of the governmental restrictions on agricultural production dropped and you'll see a lot more US goods in Thai supermarkets.
For the more general point, in Iraq there was a widespread sense that US, French, or German involvement in a project increased the professionalism involved. For total failure to get things done, the Japanese seemed the worst (bizarrely).
Oct '10
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
I can't tell whether your acquaintance wants to sell into the US market, open retail stores, franchise a concept or what.
That said, here in no particular order are a few potential reasons for his/her lack of success:
* The US has no ready market for the concept. People in a $3K/person GDP market buy different items than those in the US.
* The return is low v. the perceived risk.
* People are holding back for the same reasons they are here: uncertainty about regulations, mandates (e.g., healthcare, "living wages"), taxes.
* He/she is addressing the wrong market, e.g. large corporations v. entrepreneurs, or vice versa.
* He/she doesn't have a compelling value proposition condensed into a 30-second elevator speech and so can't reach those people who might have enough interest to ask the next question.
* He/she doesn't understand US distribution for the proposed product or service.
I have a Lebanese friend here who has created success stories in IT, upscale barbecue installations and fireplaces. He has not been successful (yet) importing food delicacies from the Middle East.
The US has loads of entrepreneurs-in-waiting AND moochers awaiting handouts.
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Since it wasn't an on-the-record conversation, I won't go into the details, but his frustration seemed to be about a lackadaisical attitude, above all; he seemed to feel that his US counterparts were passive and lacking in vision compared to their peers in other countries--and also lacking in common sense. One example he gave was an unwillingness to discuss whether it made sense to keep inventory levels as high as they were given warehousing costs. He was very frustrated to be told, "That's just the way we do it." He apparently did ultimately persuade them that this in itself wasn't a sound business rationale, but was frustrated that he had to waste as much time as he did arguing the point--he felt it should have been obvious.
All anecdotal, of course. Just interesting--and I hope anomalous.
Edited on April 7, 2012 at 1:26pmMay '10
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
He's sure right about the phone. Seems like almost nobody answers their telephone nowadays.
May '10
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
I was going to add a comment about passive and lackadaisical but just can't get up the energy to do it.
Edited on April 7, 2012 at 1:45pmFeb '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Unfortunately, I do not think this is anomalous. Obviously there are differences between companies and across sectors, but there is an awful lot of lackadaisical and outright bad management going on.
One common cause of this is top management so focused on mergers/acquisitions/etc that they give inadequate attention to operations management. Another is the misuse of information technology to remove authority and meaningful responsibility from lower-level management--especially it seems in the retail industry--resulting in inability to respond quickly to local conditions. Call center operations are often run with excessive and poorly-thought-out micromanagement: see my post mindless verbal Taylorism.
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
A good post, and a disturbing one.
Feb '12
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Completely anecdotal, but the national comfort shoe chain I work for does not give me much hope for American business. Having built its brand as the place to go for comfort shoes (often hand-made or in small European factories) and knowledgeable sales staff, the company is now phasing out a number of quality shoe brands in favor of stocking house-brand fashionable shoes mass-produced in China. Sure, it can coast on its reputation as a comfort shoe store for a while, but a quarter of my store's inventory has been replaced with the poorly made, uncomfortable shoes. Talk about eating the seed corn!
Nov '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
We were wondering if it was just particular to our market. Another anecdote. We have so many dealers (retailers) that never answer their phones and do not even have answering machines. I underline this because of the question of how many sales are lost to their many competitors- especially the internet. As a manufacturer we are stepping in where many of our retailers refuse to go, for whatever reason, and they are not happy about it. I have noticed that all of our California dealers, in particular, have hours something like: Open noon-2:00pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays (plus already being hours behind the rest of the country just by geography). Perhaps they are just so successful they don't have to actually be there.
Nov '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
We have noticed this too. The majority of the small stores are trying to compete with the big box and chain stores. I keep thinking perhaps they know something we don't know, but it seems like a loser to me. I will add that much of this is probably just the old 80/20 rule working.
Edited on April 7, 2012 at 3:59pmJun '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Color me skeptical. Retail concepts are one of the things we do best...he's not talking to the right people or his idea isn't compelling (or per a comment above, he isn't pitching it well).
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
It could be. It's definitely part of a larger impression of what it's like to do business in the US right now, which may be accurate--or may be a product of immense American public self-flagellation, which affects how the world perceives it.
Feb '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
Related...Bill Waddell, an experienced manufacturer and now a manufacturing consultant, writes about one-dimensional brilliance and "neanderthal operations management."
Feb '12
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
PracticalMary
We have noticed this too. The majority of the small stores are trying to compete with the big box and chain stores. I keep thinking perhaps they know something we don't know, but it seems like a loser to me. I will add that much of this is probably just the old 80/20 rule working. · 27 minutes ago
Edited 17 minutes ago
The store's behavior actually reminds me of my church's hierarchy. For whatever reason, the tactics that made it the success it was are considered passe and so are jettisoned. "Out with the old, hard-to-sell stuff; in with the new low-quality high-margin stuff!" "Out with the old, uncomfortable doctrines; in with the anything-goes morality!"
I'm not really sure either one is a winning strategy.
May '11
Re: US Competitiveness: An Anecdote
I moved to Florida in the early 1980's. I found out right away that service people (HVAC, plumbers, electricians, handy-men) almost never showed up when they said they would. Not just an hour late but days late. I chalked it up to the beach being so close. I have noticed that the same attitude is happening in a lot of other places now too. I always thought that all one needed to be a huge success at any business in Florida would be to show up on time and be marginally competent.