Impact of Global
Competition on Business
For
hundreds of years, American businesses led the way in producing new goods and
services for sale around the world. Consumers worldwide eagerly purchased exciting
new products that were invented and made in the United States. Factories hummed
with activity, workers from other countries arrived by the thousands to find
jobs, and people spent their wages buying the goods that the firms produced. Many
businesspeople and government leaders from foreign countries also arrived to
find out how American businesses were managed.
During
the past half-century, however, other countries have become more industrialized
and have learned how to invent and produce new products for consumers. Often
the products were cheaper than similar products produced in the United States
and, over time, many of the products were judged to be of equal or better
quality. Americans gradually began to purchase these foreign products.
Foreign
companies learned to produce innovative designs for products ranging from cell
phones to MP3 players and flat-screen televisions. American business leaders
soon realized it was time for change. They had to find ways to use the abundant
resources of the United States and the human talent of their managers and
employees to meet the challenge of global competition. Global
competition is
the ability of businesses from one country to compete with similar businesses
in other countries. One of the biggest challenges facing American businesses
today is competing in the global economy.
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