Question

Please read the attached article from Harvard Business Review, "Who is Us?" by Robert Reich. The article is the longest I've assigned this semester, but it could be one of the most thought provoking. Please read it and then discuss aspects of it that relate to the class. Use terms you've learned in this class whenever possible to discuss your thoughts on the article. Yes, the article is from 1990, but the issues are still quite relevant.

Answer 1

The article on who is US by Robert Reich was written as a result of calls across the US from various sections of people about the need to revitalize the national competitiveness of America in order to ensure that American companies produce high standard quality products. The quality of products produced by American companies will to some extent depend on the the strong competition they face from foreign companies. However, this leads to the question of what is an American company? Hence Reich’s article to some extent addresses this question by delving into what makes a company American and foreign and this was done by making an illustration of corporation A and B. Consequently, there is the need to invest more money into training the US citizens to acquire new skills or improving their skills so that they can contribute effectively to the development of the country. Generally, looking at the article, one may be tempted to conclude that US represents Corporations that have their headquarters in America, with Americans having majority of shares in the company and also American directors who manage and control the company. This is illustrated in the article as Corporation A, which has US citizens or investors having the majority of shares and also Americans as directors and managers of the cooperation but employ less US citizens and more foreign employees. However, Reich (1990) clearly states that the American workforce, or people, is what defines who is US? But not particularly the American corporation.

In effect, foreign-owned Corporation B, with its R&D and manufacturing presence in the United States and its reliance on American workers, is far more important to America’s economic future than American-owned Corporation A, with its numerous foreign workers (Hixon & Kimball, 1990). On the basis of this Corporation B defines who is US and the reason is not far-fetched.

In the view of Reich, (1990) the competitiveness of American workers is a more important definition of “American competitiveness” than the competitiveness of American companies, hence issues of ownership, control, and national origin are less important factors in determining a local or American company. Hixon & Kimball (1990), corroborated the view of Reich (1990) by suggesting that foreign-owned Corporation B, with its R&D and manufacturing presence in the United States and its reliance on American workers, is far more important to America’s economic future than American-owned Corporation A, with its numerous foreign workers. Corporation A may fly the American flag, but Corporation B invests in Americans.

ECONOMIC POLICY: A subsidy is a form of financial aid or supports extended to a business establishment generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy (Myers & Kent 2001). Subsidies are government policies that are given to companies to help them expand operations in order to reduce unemployment among others.