Government Technology

Ensuring US Competitiveness Prompts Need to Revisit Wireless Business Strategies



US Competitiveness Globe

February 19, 2008 By

The standing of the United States in the international broadband ranking numbers is often debated, but it's the personal anecdote that drives home the story.

"So much of our country is falling behind in our ability to produce high-value-added jobs," said Jim Hueser, business unit executive for IBM's Wireless Broadband Americas Group, at the 15th W2i Digital Cities Convention, in Washington, DC, this past December.

"I go back to the Midwest, where I grew up, where I worked in the factory as a kid, to put my way through school," Hueser said. "It's still a factory town. Factories are disappearing.... Without a doubt we're losing a lot of our smaller towns and cities. The jobs have dried up. I can't even say we're losing the manufacturing -- we've lost it."

Hueser evoked an urban myth of sorts. "In Long Beach, California, they say the sun sets at 3:00 in the afternoon because of all the stacked up cargo containers from the Pacific Rim. We've got nothing to ship back. Now, that's hyperbole; it's not true. We are exporting, and the dollar's value helps with that. But the bottom line is, we're not a manufacturing powerhouse anymore."

The challenge is twofold -- to transform the United States domestically, bridging the domestic digital divide -- and globally, ensuring it remains a competitive information society in the 21st century.


View Full Story


You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Ensuring-US-Competitiveness-Prompts-Need-to.html


| More

Comments


Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

GovTech Papers and Case Studies View Library


Sponsored Links



Phone RSS

Government Best Practices

» A New Model for Human Resources
» Abandoning the High Cost of Enterprise Content Management



Government Technology
Public CIO
Emergency Management
Digital Communities