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| Globalization 101 |
By:
Tom Watkins |
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Globalization 101: Michigan's sink-or-swim choice
Saturday, October 14, 2006
By Tom Watkins
Special To TheGrand Rapid Press
One only need to tune into the race for governor to get an introduction to the politics of globalization. The tit for tat, or the, "he said she said" going on between Governor Jennifer Granholm and challenger Dick DeVos over who is going to create jobs here in Michigan and who is going to ship jobs to China is like watching a ping pong match with Michigan's workers stuck in the middle!
Is globalization a good or bad thing for Michigan? In many ways, the governor's race to be determined on Nov. 7 will be a vote for who's world view Michigan wishes to tie its future to. Do we embrace globalization or seek protectionism? Can we create a level playing field for competition with our global adversaries and partners or will we just keep losing good middle class jobs?
/her control? If not, what can they do to make globalization benefit our state?
Some view it as a way to grow our economy in Michigan and across America and believe no local or state politician is going to slow down or stop it. Some see it as a way to entice international investment and job creation. And still others charge that it is "unfair," "not playing on a level playing field," "creating inequities" and "exploiting third world workers." For those who have lost a job recently and see foreign competition as the culprit, globalization becomes a bogeyman and can be viewed with anger, fear and hostility.
What leader has the right set of experiences to position Michigan to compete on the global stage? Is it enough to "go any where and do anything -- and fight for jobs" or does having actual business experience creating jobs and wealth globally (think GM and Ford), while scaling back unprofitable domestic operations matter?
"Globalization is no longer a theory; it is a reality," proclaims Kenichi Ohmae in his book, The Next Global Stage: Challenges and Opportunities in our Borderless World. He goes on, "It (globalization) is going to grow stronger rather than weaker. It will feed on its own strengths. It is irresistible, and it is determined to have an impact on everybody -- businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats, but, most importantly, on ordinary citizens. There is no use complaining about it or wishing it to go away. People will have to learn to live with it."
Michigan -- if it believes Ohmae's world view -- needs to explore how it can tap into the hundreds of billions of dollars the Chinese hold in trade imbalance and tilt the world to have some of that cash; through investment and trade return to our state.
We need to create an environment for foreign capital to breed and grow here.
If it were not for the Chinese investment in our nation's bond market, interest rates for our homes and cars would be significantly higher. We need a strategy to have a marriage between the Great Wall of China and the Great Lake State of Michigan that will benefit both peoples. Currently, there is no such strategy.
Certainly most of us have benefited from the lower costs on most consumer goods from socks and shirts to electronics and autos. Has a family member or a neighbor paid the price with their job because of our purchasing decisions? Are American or Michigan consumers likely to change their buying habits to buy American, even if we could determine what an "American" product is when most products are composed of parts from around the world?
Yet, we also see that our trade agreements do not protect the intellectual property of the inventors here in America, believe that foreign countries do manipulate their currencies, putting our manufacturers in a uncompetitive position and feel our national government could do more to level the playing field while maintaining free global trade. Further, our manufacturers are hurt by health care and pension legacy costs that their global competitors do not have to absorb.
Regardless of what position you take on globalization or see a hybrid view of the world, we can all agree that we are confronting a rapidly changing, disruptive information and technologically driven world that defies predictability.
We need to grasp the reality that our ability to adapt to change will be a defining commodity in the future and that education, knowledge, creativity and innovation will trump all. Having cheap labor, natural resources, solid transportation systems will help -- but the 21st century will be ruled by brain, not brawn.
Michigan will succeed when we are exporting knowledge, creativity and innovation on the world stage. That is a tune that the world will dance to! |
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