Why Design for Competitive Advantage?

Dertouzos, Lester, and Solow (1989) note that

To live well a nation must produce well.

Personally, I prefer to live well. I also prefer that my progeny live well. Recent years have demonstrated to America that competitiveness is not a natural property of a nation, organization, or individual. To become and remain competitive requires conscious design for competitive advantage.

Of course, there is an alternative.

Thanks to our competitors, led by Japan, for hard lessons learned.

On the other hand, Deming (1993) notes that

We have been taught by economists that competition will solve our problems. Actually, competition, as we now see it, is destructive. It would be better if everyone would work together as a system, with the aim for everybody to win.

This raises the questions of: At what level should we design for competitive advantage? Who should be within our system?

References

Deming, W. E. (1993). The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Cambridge MA.
Dertouzos, M. L., R. S. Lester, and R. M. Solow (1989). Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge, HarperPerennial, New York NY.

Bibliographies

Why Design for Competitive Advantage? Bibliography

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