The Societal Foundations of National Competitiveness

The Societal Foundations of National Competitiveness

Author: Michael J. Mazarr

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2022-06-21

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 1977409393

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Nations rise and fall, succeed or fail in rivalries, and enjoy stability or descend into chaos because of a complex web of factors that affect competitive advantage. One critical component is the package of essential social characteristics of a nation. The ultimate story of the Cold War is that the United States was simply a more competitive society than the Soviet Union: more energetic, more vibrant, more innovative, more productive, more legitimate. Through analysis of comparative studies of historical eras and trends, historical case studies, and the findings of issue-specific empirical research, the report explores how seven characteristics of a society determine its competitive standing and distinguish dynamic and competitively successful nations. If the history surveyed in this report provides an accurate guide to the future, the fate of the United States in today's rivalries will not be determined solely, or even in significant degree, by the numbers of its weapons or amounts of defense spending or how many proxy wars it wins but by the basic characteristics of its society. The author applies the seven leading characteristics that affect national standing to the United States to create a snapshot of where the country stands. That application provides some reason for optimism. The United States continues to reflect many of these characteristics, and the overall synergistic engine, more than any other large country in the world. However, multiple trends are working to weaken traditional U.S. advantages. Several, such as the corruption of the national information space, pose acute risks to the long-term dynamism and competitiveness of the nation, raising the worrying prospect that the United States has begun to display classic patterns of a major power on the far side of its dynamic and vital curve.


Competitive Advantage of Nations

Competitive Advantage of Nations

Author: Michael E. Porter

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-05-31

Total Pages: 906

ISBN-13: 145165149X

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Now beyond its eleventh printing and translated into twelve languages, Michael Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations has changed completely our conception of how prosperity is created and sustained in the modern global economy. Porter’s groundbreaking study of international competitiveness has shaped national policy in countries around the world. It has also transformed thinking and action in states, cities, companies, and even entire regions such as Central America. Based on research in ten leading trading nations, The Competitive Advantage of Nations offers the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Porter shows how traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor have been superseded as sources of prosperity, and how broad macroeconomic accounts of competitiveness are insufficient. The book introduces Porter’s “diamond,” a whole new way to understand the competitive position of a nation (or other locations) in global competition that is now an integral part of international business thinking. Porter's concept of “clusters,” or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions that arise in particular locations, has become a new way for companies and governments to think about economies, assess the competitive advantage of locations, and set public policy. Even before publication of the book, Porter’s theory had guided national reassessments in New Zealand and elsewhere. His ideas and personal involvement have shaped strategy in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Portugal, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and India, and regions such as Massachusetts, California, and the Basque country. Hundreds of cluster initiatives have flourished throughout the world. In an era of intensifying global competition, this pathbreaking book on the new wealth of nations has become the standard by which all future work must be measured.


The Societal Basis for National Competitiveness

The Societal Basis for National Competitiveness

Author: Timothy R. Heath

Publisher: RAND Corporation

Published: 2024-04-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781977412867

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This report is part of a larger RAND Corporation study on the societal foundations of national competitiveness. The authors surveyed Chinese and Russian thinking about the qualities of nations that tend to produce competitive advantage and found that both China and Russia hold starkly different views from most U.S. and Western officials and analysts about the societal sources of competitive advantage.


Varieties of Capitalism

Varieties of Capitalism

Author: Peter A. Hall

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 557

ISBN-13: 0199247749

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Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.


Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters

Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters

Author: Robert Huggins

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2012-09-20

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0191635987

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Harvard professor, Michael Porter has been one of the most influential figures in strategic management research over the last three decades. He infused a rigorous theoretical framework of industrial organization economics with the then still embryonic field of strategic management and elevated it to its current status as an academic discipline. Porter's outstanding career is also characterized by its cross-disciplinary nature. Following his most important work on strategic management, he then made a leap to the policy side and dealt with a completely different set of analytical units. More recently he has made a foray into inner city development, environmental regulations, and health care services. Throughout these explorations Porter has maintained his integrative approach, seeking a road that links management case studies and the general model building of mainstream economics. With expert contributors from a range of disciplines including strategic management, economic development, economic geography, and planning, this book assesses the contribution Michael Porter has made to these respective disciplines. It clarifies the sources of tension and controversy relating to all the major strands of Porter's work, and provides academics, students, and practitioners with a critical guide for the application of Porter's models. The book highlights that while many of the criticisms of Porter's ideas are valid, they are almost an inevitable outcome for a scholar who has sought to build bridges across wide disciplinary valleys. His work has provided others with a set of frameworks to explore in more depth the nature of competition, competitive advantage, and clusters from a range of vantage points.


Perspectives on U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology

Perspectives on U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology

Author: Titus Galama

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 0833041797

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Is the United States in danger of losing its competitive edge in science and technology "S & T"? In response to this concern, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND to convene a meeting, held on November 8, 2006, to review evidence presented by experts from academia, government, and the private sector. The papers presented at the meeting addressed a wide range of issues surrounding the United States' current and future S & T competitiveness, including science policy, the quantitative assessment of S & T capability, globalization, the rise of Asia "particularly China and India", innovation, trade, technology diffusion, the increase in foreign-born S & T students and workers in the United States, new directions in the management and compensation of federal S & T workers, and national security and the defense industry. These papers provide a partial survey of the facts, challenges, and questions posed by the potential erosion of U.S.S & T capability. The importance of S & T to U.S. prosperity and security warrants that policymakers pay careful attention to the various high-level reports issued over the past ve years that warn of pressures on the U.S. lead in S & T. The intellectual point of embarkation for the RAND meeting was the foremost recent such report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, by the National Academy of Sciences.


The Societal Foundations of National Competitiveness

The Societal Foundations of National Competitiveness

Author: Michael J. Mazarr

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2022-06-21

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 1977409407

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Nations rise and fall, succeed or fail in rivalries, and enjoy stability or descend into chaos because of a complex web of factors. One critical component is a nation’s essential social characteristics. This report examines the characteristics of highly competitive societies, explores the relationship of a nation’s social condition to its global standing, and then applies these lessons to the United States today.