To hear Harvard Business School grads tell it, the economic outlook for the U.S. is far from good.
Between an inefficient political system, a struggling K-12 education system, a complicated tax code and persistent pressure from abroad, 71% of nearly 10,000 alumni surveyed around the world said the U.S. will become less competitive over the next three years.
Less than 60% of former students of the esteemed business school believe the U.S. is performing better than the average advanced economy. Just 8% think the country will pull ahead of emerging markets.
Of the nearly 2,000 survey respondents personally involved in their company’s plans to relocate, 57% contemplated moving out of the U.S. while just 9% thought about moving in. For companies that actually switched headquarters, the U.S. lost out 84% of the time.
The nations most often brought up as possible new homes for businesses included China (considered by 42% of respondents), India (38%), Brazil and Mexico (both 15%). Many of those countries were attractive because workers there could be paid lower wages.
"The U.S. is losing out on business location decisions at an alarming rate, and those activities being offshored are more job-rich than those coming in," said Michael E. Porter, head of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the business school.
"However," he added, "the U.S. retains its core strengths in a number of important areas such as university education, innovation and entrepreneurship, which means that we have the resources to reverse this trend."
