First, the international competitiveness of American natural resources industry and manufacturing industry.
After World War II, the economic strength of the United States was further strengthened. In 1950s and 1960s, some American industries entered the international market, and their productivity jumped to the top of all countries in the world, and they began to establish the position of global manufacturing center, and then became the global economic hegemon.
The share of products in the international market can reflect the international competitiveness of industries that produce similar products from one side. According to Michael? According to the statistics of international market share of Porter's products, in the early 1970s, among the top 50 American industries with international market share, there were not only traditional American industries (such as soybeans, rice, wheat and coal). Highly dependent on natural resources, it is also a representative industry of industrialized society, such as technology-intensive industries and capital-intensive industries, such as airplanes, computers, electron tubes, organic chemicals and office machines. , showing the diversity of advantageous industries in the United States. (Note: Michael? Porter: National Competitive Advantage (Chinese version), Huaxia Publishing House, 275 (2002). )
By 10 years later 1985, judging from the top 50 American industries in international market share, the leading industrial pattern of American industries has not changed much, that is, natural resource industries (such as corn, sugar beet, tobacco, etc. ) and technology and capital-intensive industries (such as aircraft and medical equipment). ) or coexist. Compared with the early 1970s, the export structure of the United States and other countries has been gradually upgraded, in sharp contrast. Among the top 50 American industries in international market share, the number of industries dominated by natural resources has increased from 19 to 22, and the proportion of natural resource industries in total exports has reached 24.2, much higher than that of Japan and Germany. (Note: Michael? Porter: National Competitive Advantage (Chinese version), Huaxia Publishing House, p. 498, 2002. )
Since 1985, the biggest change in the American economy has been strong growth, which has restored the confidence of American economic powers. In 2000, American merchandise trade exports accounted for 12% of the world's total exports, and there were 43 categories of goods with market share higher than this ratio (see table 1), which was more competitive than other American exports, accounting for 64.8% of all American exports that year. Among the 43 categories of commodities, 8 industries are mainly natural resources.
Table 1 2000, there were 43 internationally competitive commodities in the United States.
SITC Commodity Classification Name Order World Market
Occupancy (%)
263 cotton 1 48.4
598 Other mixed chemical products 2 42.5
222 soybean and peanut 3 42. 1
792 aircraft and its parts 4 36.8
7 14 engine and its parts 5 32. 1
774 medical electrical equipment 6 30.2
874 measuring and analyzing instruments 7 29.2
723 Construction machinery and parts 8 28.0
Tobacco 9 25.0
54 1 drug 10 24.5
Wheat 1 1 24.0
728 industrial processing machinery and parts 1222.438+0
Auto parts, accessories and others 13 2 1.9
25 1 pulp 14 20.9
625 rubber tires, inner tubes and others 15 20.5
08 1 feed, soybean meal and vegetable oil meal 16 20.3
7 13 internal combustion engine and its parts 17 20.0
Blower, compressor, centrifuge, etc. 18 19 438+0
Phenolic aldehyde, polyester, etc. Coincidence 19 18.9
892 newspapers, magazines, tickets and other printed materials 20 18.8
0 1 1 edible animal meat 2 1 18.5
699 Metal ornaments for locks, decorations and furniture 22 18.0
74 1 heating or cooling equipment and parts 23 17.7
776 vacuum tubes, transistors and integrated circuits 24 17.4
5 1 1 hydrocarbons and their inducers 25 17.3
898 Musical Instruments and Audio-visual Recording Media 26 17.438+0
Automatic data processing equipment 27 16.9
745 Other non-electric machines and tools 28 16.8
Accessories and parts of 759 75 1 and 752 29 16.6
744 machinery for lifting and handling articles 30 16.5
736 metalworking machinery and parts 3 1 16.2
Other man-made plastic products 32 16. 1
772 Circuit Switches and Connecting Devices 33 15.3
057 Fruit 34 14.2
773 Power transmission equipment such as cables and insulating materials 35 13.5
583 inducer, such as polyethylene 36 13.4.
65 1 textile yarn 37 13.0
778 Other electrical equipment 38 12.8
Non-electrical mechanical parts such as 749 bearings 39 12.4
782 trucks and special vehicles 40 12.4
77 1 transformers, rectifiers and other electrical components 4 1 12. 1
5 15 organic compound 42 12. 1
5 14 nitrogenous compounds such as glutamic acid and saccharin 43 12. 1
Source: The author calculated according to the data in the United Nations Yearbook of International Trade Statistics 2000.
It should be pointed out that Michael? Porter uses the 4-digit and 5-digit classification data of the standard international trade classification. Since the United Nations Yearbook of International Trade Statistics has only published three categories of data since 1994, the international market share calculated based on this data is generally lower than that of Michael? Porter's calculation results, so the table 1 cannot be simply compared with the above data in the early 1970s and 1985. Nevertheless, table 1 shows that the dominant industries formed in the competitive advantage of the United States today are still concentrated in natural resource-based industries, technology-intensive industries and capital-intensive industries.
Comparing the data of the United States 1985, Table 1 has the following outstanding competitiveness: SITC263；; Enhanced competitiveness:122,541774; The competitiveness is basically unchanged: 222,792,874; The competitiveness drops to: 651; The loss of competitiveness is: 32 1 coal and coke, 24 1 log, which used to be the dominant industries in the United States in 1 985.
In the table 1, there are 14 commodities (i.e. 598,874,728,784,713,743,582,741744,736,778,778). In 14 products, the international market share of the United States is higher than that of Japan and Germany. This shows that the United States, the world's largest economic power, is based on a broader and more competitive industrial cluster than Japan and Germany.
Second, the international competitiveness of American service industry.
Like the rising economic status of service industry in many countries, service trade plays an increasingly important role in the world economy. At present, the establishment and promotion of a country's international economic status can no longer be achieved through trade in goods, but also through trade in services; The competitive advantage of a country lies not only in whether it can form a competitive manufacturing industry, but also in whether it can form a competitive service industry.
Compared with Japan and Germany, the competitiveness of service trade formed in the competitive advantage of the United States is much stronger. The United States is not only the largest exporter of service trade in the world, but also the largest importer of service trade. In 2000, US exports of service trade reached US$ 290.88 billion, accounting for 6.5438+09.7% of the world's total, while imports reached US$ 265.438+0707 billion, accounting for 6.5438+04.5% of the world's total, achieving a surplus of US$ 73.88./kloc-0.0 billion.
As can be seen from Table 2, the United States has strong competitiveness in many items of service trade, such as tourism services, government services and most other non-government service trade, which leads to the overall export of service trade is greater than import. According to Table 2, among the four categories of service trade, the most competitive one in the United States is "non-governmental service trade except transportation and tourism". In this kind of service trade, according to the size of international competitiveness, the top five service trade areas are cultural and entertainment services, construction services, computer and information services, patents and other royalties (technology trade) in turn.
Table 2 Competitiveness of US service trade in 2000: US$ 654.38+0 billion; %
Import and export balanced competition
Force index
Transportation service 50.95 65.27-14.32-12.3
Tourism service 97.45 66.85 30.60 18.6
Government service trade18.7716.05438+0 2.76 7.9
Trade in non-governmental services other than transportation and tourism 123 438+0 68.94 54.77 28.4
Telecommunication service 4.09 5.80-1.71.17.3
Construction services 5.26 0.42 4.84 85.2
Insurance service 2.4 1 9.20 -6.79 -58.5
Financial services17.04 4.4912.55 58.3
Computer and information services 4.90 1.04 3.86 65.0
Patent and other royalties are 38.0316.1021.93 40.5.
Other business services 45.56 31.7613.8017.8
Cultural and recreational services 6.42 0. 13 6.29 96.0
Total 290.88 217.07 73.5438+014.5.
Competitiveness index = (export-import)/(export+import) × 100
Source: The author calculated according to the data of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Balance of Payments Statistical Yearbook 200 1.
Cultural and recreational services
Although the history of the United States is short, it has contributed many enduring works of Xian Yi's young and old in the fields of dance, music, film and drama, such as imaginative modern dance, Disneyland and related products that bring joy to children all over the world, and "Hollywood" movies. The global spread of American cultural and entertainment services has not only brought the United States a rolling financial source (for example, the global box office income of Hollywood movies accounts for more than 80% of the world box office income), but also strengthened and enriched the competitive advantage of the United States through this cultural export.
Construction service
The industrial revolution centered on steel promoted the development of American architectural engineering. The invention of elevators and reinforced concrete led to the emergence of the first architectural form in the United States-skyscrapers, which are considered to embody the American spirit. Since then, the United States has been relying on advanced design concepts and high technology, and has been standing at the forefront of world architecture. At present, the United States has the largest architectural engineering firm in the world, bringing together top architects from all over the world (such as I.M. Pei, etc. In recent years, many countries attach great importance to urban construction and image. Many cities in many countries have funded Americans to design their landmark buildings (such as Jinmao Tower in Shanghai and International Forum Square in Tokyo). ) or the whole block.
Computer and information services
Since the mid-1940s, the world's first desktop computer, the first semiconductor transistor and the first integrated circuit were all born in the United States, so the United States has always been the world's leader in information technology. The development of information technology has also driven the huge demand for information services in the United States and other countries. Since 1980s, the information service industry in the United States has maintained a double-digit growth rate and has become one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. The US government also pays special attention to improving the international competitiveness of its information service industry. In the multilateral negotiations such as GATT and later WTO, the United States has been making unremitting efforts to break through various restrictions for its information service industry. The largest category of computer and information services is computer professional services, which can be further divided into computer system integration, user-specific programming and professional consultation and training. America's strength in these three aspects is the strongest in the world.
Finance service center
Compared with European national banks with a long history of international finance, the overseas expansion of American banks started late. After World War II, with the establishment of the leading position of the United States in the world economy and international finance, American banks' international financial activities are ahead of the developed countries in Europe in all aspects, and they have achieved absolute competitive advantages in the international financial market. In the multilateral negotiations of WTO, the United States takes advantage of its dominant position in financial service trade, on the one hand, forcing other countries to develop financial markets according to the requirements of the United States, opening the way for domestic financial institutions to find profit sources overseas, on the other hand, paying attention to protecting their own financial markets. For example, in July 1995, 1995, it was precisely because the United States thought that the development of financial markets in developing countries could not meet the asking price of the United States, refused to grant MFN treatment to all members, and unilaterally withdrew from the Global Agreement on Trade in Financial Services, which led to the agreement being only a temporary agreement at that time. In the service trade of the United States, the growth of financial service trade is particularly rapid. From 1986 to 2000, the trade in financial services in the United States increased from $516 billion to $215.3 billion. (Note: Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisers, Council of Economic Advisers, Washington, D.C. (February 2002). )
Patents and other royalties (technology trade) In the era of knowledge economy, the form of international trade is evolving in the direction of increasing technology content. The improvement of a country's technology trade status can not only improve the country's terms of trade, but also promote the efficient growth of the national economy, optimize the industrial structure and export commodity structure, put the country in a favorable position in the international division of labor, and in turn further promote its technological progress. From a macro point of view, American science and technology and economy have achieved this virtuous circle. The development of American technology trade is inseparable from the maturity of its intellectual property system. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration issued a policy called "favoritism policy" to "revive America". Its main content was to expand the scope of patent rights, not only paying attention to the ratio of patent royalties, but also improving the compensation for infringement. This policy institutionally ensures that the United States maintains its technological competitive advantage.
In Table 2, there are also tourism services with high international competitiveness. The project mainly includes international tourism and education services. Among them, the competitiveness of educational services in the United States is much higher than that of tourism, because although tourists from all over the world come to the United States to travel, a large number of Americans travel to all countries in the world. American education, especially higher education, attracts international students from all over the world with its academic atmosphere of free competition. There are more than 500,000 foreign students studying in American universities every year, and there are far more foreign students studying in the United States than Americans studying abroad. In 2000, the export of American educational services reached $654.38+0.0287 billion, which exceeded the sum of traditional American export commodities, such as wheat and corn, while the import of education was only $265.438+0.040 billion.
The International Monetary Fund has not released the detailed breakdown data of "other business services" in Table 2. According to the meaning of this statistical item, it is similar to "professional service trade" in OECD service trade statistics. However, the OECD's classified statistics are not perfect, and the United States only has some classified data. Table 3 reflects the competitive advantages of some "professional service trade" in the United States, and it can be found that the United States is competitive in law, accounting, auditing and consulting services in this field, which is also in line with people's common sense.
Table 3 The competitiveness of American professional service trade in 2000: US$ 654.38+0 billion; %
Import and export balanced competition
Force index
Law, Accounting, Auditing and Consulting 4.9 1 2.24 2.67 37.3
Advertising and market research 0.4 1 0.76 -0.35 -29.9
Research and development (R&D)
engineering design
Agriculture and mining guidance
Other professional technical services 3.97 2.20 1.77 28.7
Intra-enterprise service trade 28.94 22.44 6.50 12.7
The total is 39.0128.4210.5915.7.
Source: The author calculated according to the data in the OECD Statistics of International Trade in Services 200 1.
Transportation services, insurance services, advertising and market research are among the few service trades in the United States that lack international competitiveness, which may be related to the fact that foreign service providers in the United States are more competitive and win many market shares from domestic service providers in the United States.
Third, the essence of American competitive advantage.
Although each country's national conditions are different, each country's competitive advantage is different, but a country's competitive advantage is always composed of some factors. Michael. Porter believes that the competitive advantage of a country's industry consists of four basic factors (production factors, demand conditions, performance of supporting industries and related industries, enterprise strategy and competitors) and two additional factors (opportunities and government behavior). Limited by space, this paper focuses on the competitive advantage of the United States from four aspects: knowledge and technical human resources, enterprise competitive environment, enterprise technological innovation environment and enterprise strategy. The author believes that these four aspects will enhance the competitiveness of a country's industry in both supply and demand.
Knowledge and technical human resources
Usually, people's income level is directly proportional to their education level or the difficulty of mastering technology, and people's requirements for quality of life are also directly proportional to their income level. Therefore, high-quality talents will not only help to increase the supply of high-quality products and services, but also increase the related demand.
The United States can maintain its leading position in science and technology and economy, mainly due to its consistent emphasis on education and human resources development. Since the early 1980s, several presidents have declared to be "education presidents", and enterprises have paid more and more attention to training and absorbing talents. With the in-depth development of national education and lifelong education, the United States is moving towards a mass knowledge society. One of the signs that the United States attaches importance to education is its increasing investment in education. American education investment increased from $353 billion in 1989 to $635 billion in 1999, accounting for more than 7% of American GDP, ranking among the best in developed countries. President Clinton proposed that after entering the 2 1 century, every primary school classroom should be in line with the world, and the university enrollment rate should reach 25% to meet the needs of new economic development.
Seizing every opportunity to introduce talents is also a unique competitive advantage of the United States. Up to now, the number of international students in the United States has reached 49 1 000, accounting for about 1/3 of the total number of international students in the world. For more than half a century, the development of nuclear weapons and technology in the United States, the advent and application of computers, the implementation of Apollo moon landing program and the great development of space technology have all been completed with the participation and even leadership of scientists who have emigrated to the United States. In 200 1 year, the U.S. government promulgated the "2 1 century Strengthening American Competitiveness Act", which aims to further attract foreigners with professional skills and technology who work in the United States but do not apply for residence. The scope of talents covers a wide range of fields such as science and technology, law and art. After decades of efforts, the United States has the largest and most advantageous scientific and technological talents in the world. Relying on this large number of top talents, Americans have won the most Nobel Prizes, American scientists have published the most papers in the world's major scientific and technological documents, and American citizens have obtained the most patents at home and abroad.
Enterprise competitive environment
American industries have developed on the basis of mutual competition, and most industries are facing fierce domestic competition. The United States is the origin country of anti-monopoly policy in the world, and it has strict restrictions on market monopoly, enterprise merger and unified market pricing.
After World War II, American anti-monopoly legislation and practice adapted to the needs of world economic changes. Since Reagan came to power, the United States has paid more attention to the competitive position of American enterprises in the world when implementing anti-monopoly policies, and regarded enterprise merger as a means to enhance the international competitiveness of the United States, so it has adopted a tolerant attitude towards enterprise merger. During this period, the U.S. Department of Justice stopped investigating monopoly enterprises that manipulated prices and divided the market without public agreement. At that time, the Ministry of Justice also withdrew its lawsuit against International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and cooperated with AT&T Company (AT&; T) reach a settlement. (Note: Zhang Delin: "Competition and Anti-Unfair Competition-Theory and Practice of Anti-Unfair Competition Law and Foreign Legal Norms", People's Daily Press, 1994, pp.197. )
Since 1990s, American antitrust policy has continued the above trend, which is best reflected in the antitrust case against Microsoft, which is considered as the largest antitrust case in the United States in more than 50 years. (Note: In June, 20001,the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia made a ruling, rejecting the judgment of the district court judge that Microsoft was divided into two in June the year before last, but upholding the judgment that Microsoft violated the anti-monopoly law. In June 2002, 165438+ 10, the US Department of Justice and Microsoft reached an agreement, and the federal court quickly approved this solution. As can be seen from the case of Microsoft, in the new economic era, the United States has implemented an anti-monopoly policy and paid more attention to maintaining the overall international competitiveness of the United States. Because in the new economic era, breaking the monopoly simply by splitting enterprises cannot maintain and improve the competitiveness of a country.
Enterprise technological innovation environment
The protagonist of American technological innovation is private enterprises. In 2000, enterprises accounted for 72.9% and government departments accounted for 27. 1%. After the relative stagnation of R&D in 1970s, the R&D capability of American private enterprises has made great progress in the past 20 years. The proportion of R&D expenditure of private enterprises in GDP has increased from about 0.8% before 1985 to 1.8% in 2000, and the number of invention patents has also increased from less than 65,438+million in the early 1990s to more than150,000 in 2000. (Note: Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisers, Council of Economic Advisers, Washington, D.C. (February 2002). )
The scientific and technological activities of American enterprises are closely linked with the national defense construction of the United States, which is one of the competitive advantages of the United States to support its economic strength. From the atomic energy program in the 1940s to the "Apollo" moon landing program in the 1970s, the huge national defense-related programs not only provided enterprises with objective research and development funds, but more importantly, provided them with opportunities to enhance their technological competitiveness. The technological progress brought by the development of national defense industry has further promoted the development of other manufacturing industries. Nowadays, the dominant industries in the United States are more or less related to American national defense, such as aircraft manufacturing, IT product manufacturing and telecommunications services.
In addition, the enterprising spirit of Americans, the existence of financing channels such as large venture capital companies and Nasdaq market are also important aspects to promote technological innovation of American enterprises.
Business strategy
American enterprises make full use of the benefits of factor flow to allocate resources on a global scale by investing abroad and attracting overseas investment. This strategy can be said to be a "global factor combination development strategy". (Note: Zhang Youwen: Contemporary National Advantages-Factor Cultivation and Global Planning, Shanghai Far East Press, 2003, pp. 208-222. The United States is not only the largest foreign investor in the world today, but also the largest foreign investor (except in 2002), and has extremely rich multinational companies in many industries.
American companies are more competitive than any other country in the global market. American companies have now established about 23,000 majority-controlled or minority-controlled branches in strategic locations around the world. The strategic goal of most foreign branches is to produce and sell goods and services to the local market. According to statistics, about 60% of the products produced overseas by American multinational companies are sold locally, and about 30% are sold back to the United States. (Note: The May and June issue of Diplomacy 200 1. The strength of American multinational companies determines their great influence on domestic and international politics and economy. American multinational corporations are not only the economic foundation of contemporary American society, but also the main source of their competitiveness.
The success of American economy in recent years is also attributed to the drastic reorganization and streamlining of enterprises since the 1980s. The United States pays more attention to the interests of enterprise investors, which is different from Germany's emphasis on the social benefits of enterprises and Japan's emphasis on the interests of employees. The advantage of the American way is that enterprises can avoid falling into many conflicts of interest and seize the initiative in time, but it is easy to cause a large number of enterprises to close down and a large number of layoffs.
Four. The * * essence of competitive advantage of economic powers.
In today's world economy, if a country does not advance, it will retreat. All countries will go all out to form their own competitive advantages and win a place in the international economic arena. Some competitive advantages of a country are unique to that country. For example, the United States has "hard power" including vast and rich land and the status of the world's first military power, and "soft power" including the openness of immigrant countries, the stable international monetary status of the US dollar, the attraction of culture and ideology to other countries, and the ability to control international rules and mechanisms. These are all competitive advantages that other countries lack. Nevertheless, the analysis of economic powers such as the United States also shows that the competitive advantages of these countries are the same in many aspects.
First, implement a market economic system that pays equal attention to competition and regulation. Free competition is the most basic operating mechanism of market economy. Through competition, we can promote the survival of the fittest, optimize the combination of resources and improve economic benefits. However, competition is dual, and unconstrained competition will in turn destroy competition. The long-term practice of economic powers shows that a perfect market economy should not only advocate free competition and protect competition, but also standardize competition to make it develop fairly, orderly and healthily. It is one of the basic conditions for these countries to improve their competitiveness and maintain a high level of competitiveness, and it is also the starting point for these countries to become powerful countries.
Second, attach importance to the role of science education, develop knowledge economy and attach importance to intellectual property protection. The post-war competitive advantage of most economic powers does not come from natural talent, but is formed through the unremitting efforts and creation of their own countries. Under the environment of open economy, the supply of primary production factors is getting richer and richer, so it plays a less and less role in economic development. Only by persistently and creatively developing advanced production factors for a long time can a country stand out in the competition between countries. The economic development of contemporary economic powers is not a extensive economic road that consumes a lot of resources, but an efficient and intensive economic road based on advanced production factors including developed scientific education, scientific decision-making and strict management.
Third, the transnational development of enterprises has become an important strategic link for economic powers to enhance the international competitiveness of enterprises and thus enhance the competitive advantage of the whole country. Under the background of economic globalization, economic powers generally grasp the two ends of the value chain and industrial chain as required, control core technologies and high value-added links, transfer manufacturing and assembly capabilities outward, develop overseas production bases, establish an efficient production system for global development and allocation of resources, and form a global production system, thus occupying the international market in a wider scope and strengthening the national competitive advantage. At the same time, under the condition of open economy, economic powers pay attention to protecting their own industries, implement opening-up based on their own countries, and enjoy the benefits of opening-up to the maximum without causing too much impact on their countries.
Fourth, a number of competitive industries have emerged in the international market. These industries can be manufacturing or service industries. These industries are supported by distinctive industrial clusters formed by various countries, and many policies of various countries are ultimately arranged for the formation of industrial clusters.