Technological and other determinants of the international competitiveness of U.S. industries

The development of effective policies to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic industries already under severe pressure from foreign products, as well as of those industries likely to face such increasing pressures in the years ahead, must be based on more precise diagnoses of the factors undermining their market shares not only in home markets but also abroad. This paper presents some of the emerging conclusions of an exploratory study, supported by the National Science Foundation, concerning the roles of technological innovations and other determinants of the international competitiveness of a small sample of domestic industries. Primary attention has been focused on the steel, tire, machine tool, and robot industries in order to sample different degrees of current and prospective import pressures in domestic markets. But some peripheral attention has also been given to a variety of other industrial sectors which have been experiencing similar pressures.