USD Magazine, Spring 1996

and English, have a strong base in Brussels and contacts in the Pacific Rim, and know the cafes and bars of Singapore." MANUFACTURING MUSCLE When David Burt talks about American competitiveness, he disputes the popular notion that our economy can flourish as a service industry. Capitalizing on the information age and services accompany– ing communications technology will certainly help the economy, he says, but maintains that for our standard of living to truly improve, U .S. businesses must become globally competitive in the man– ufacturing arena. "There are some people who believe we can get by as a service industry," says Burt, a professor at USD since 1981. "I happen to be one of the people who believes we've got to have a manufacturing base. In order to have a viable manufacturing base, it means that supply management becomes increasingly important." Ninety-two percent of the cost of an Apple computer, for example, is from supplied materials, Burt says. As a pur– chasing scholar searching for improved ways of doing business, Burt likes the idea of an American Keiretsu relationship because it teams manufacturers with suppliers and focuses both on reducing costs and improving quality. THE AMERICAN KEIRETSU Burt's strategy, although foreign in its origin, is uniquely adapted to the American style of doing business and shaped to encourage U.S. companies to help each other achieve world-class sta– tus as manufacturers of quality products. One of the biggest obstacles for manu– facturers to overcome when developing a product is defective parts that affect the quality of the final product, Burt says. Substandard materials, poor workmanship and inattentive service have become a way of life in America, he laments in his book, The American Keiretsu, A Strate– gic Weapon for Global Competitiveness. Consumers experience these phenomena when shopping for everything from shoes to new homes; purchasing agents are faced with them when buying materi– als from domestic and foreign suppliers.

developing new products or searching for new markets. Briscoe tells his students to expect to work in a foreign country at some point in their career, and encourages them to study another culture that piques their interest. At the same time, the business school's curriculum requires students to study a second language. Quijano, who understood the changing job market, began his education by studying Japanese for three semesters. He also participated in an exchange program with San Diego's sister city, Yokohama, Japan. The recent graduate now holds a position strikingly similar to one described in a recent School of Business Administration newsletter. Briscoe quoted the CEO of the U.S. Conference Board, who describes global managers like this: "The successful managers of the future will probably speak both Japanese

with subsidiaries spread around the globe - comprised the majority of the top 500 international firms in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, however, the list of the top 500 multinational firms includes companies from 40 to 50 different coun– tries, he says. The intensified competition from other countries is forcing U.S. firms to search out employees who understand the global economic market and the social and political nuances of different countries. These global managers will work with personnel who are foreign born to help them understand the corpo– rate philosophy of the parent company, manage employees who are sent abroad to work in subsidiaries, and help workers and their families adjust to a new culture and a new job. The global executives also will represent the international customer to parent company officials who are

::1.0 I usu

N E

M A G A Z