Rebuilding the American Dream
Pembrook Publishing is proud to present Rebuilding the American Dream, Bob Skandalaris' insightful commentary on the state of American innovation and entrepreneurship.
Is America Losing Its Competitive Edge?
The United States has led the world economy for over a century, and our success is built upon a foundation of innovation and entrepreneurship. Yet that foundation is far more vulnerable than Americans might believe, and strengthening it is crucial to our ability to compete in the global innovation race—a race that will determine who is rich and who is poor, which nations prosper and which ones falter, which companies succeed and which ones fail. Bob Skandalaris’ discerning look at the troubled state of American innovation, and its effect on the American Dream, zeroes in on the causes of the crisis and reveals why:
- Research and development is already following manufacturing offshore
- Venture capital actually encourages entrepreneurs to be less innovative
- American companies are surrendering their intellectual property to foreign firms
- Business schools are producing managers who are unprepared to take risks
- The expensing of stock options will hurt rather than protect the middle class
- The culture of American high schools is undermining our children’s future
In a global economy that is more open and competitive than ever before, innovation and entrepreneurship is what will separate the winners from the losers. Rebuilding the American Dream provides crucial insight for anyone who wants to stay in the game—high-tech entrepreneurs struggling to launch a company, knowledge workers searching for a secure career path, even parents who are wondering how to ensure their children’s economic future. Deeply troubling and at times controversial, it is a wake-up call for all who believe that the American Dream is safe and secure.
What Is Happening to the American Dream?
For millions of Americans, the American Dream is slipping away. While globalization is creating more opportunities than ever before, new communications technologies and the integration of formerly communist countries into the world economy are dramatically changing the status quo. A tremendous pool of skilled labor in Asia and elsewhere around the world is now readily accessible through offshore outsourcing, and it is undermining the wages and job security of the American middle class.
The one hope we Americans have of maintaining our standard of living is to create new jobs through innovation, but America’s ability to innovate is in peril. Research is becoming more cautious as support for breakthrough innovation fades, and the products of that research are increasingly being pirated. Risk capital is flowing overseas into emerging markets, business students are being taught to control costs rather than invest in the future, and employees are being discouraged from tapping their creative potential. Yet in a world where Chinese and Indian companies can handle manufacturing and back-office operations at a fraction of their former cost, innovation is America’s last bastion of competitive advantage. We cannot afford to lose it.
How can America restore jobs and innovation competitiveness? In Rebuilding the American Dream, Robert Skandalaris explores these issues through numerous interviews with leaders in government, academia, and industry. His forthright conversations with entrepreneurs such as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, T-Mobile co-founder Alan Bender, General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner, and many others provide insight on a variety of key issues from the offshoring of research to the challenges of sparking local innovation-based economic development. By adding these insights to his own considerable experience as an entrepreneur, he has shed light on one of the most important issues facing America today—the growing threat to the American Dream.
Rebuilding the American Dream: Restoring American Jobs and Competitiveness Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship Written by Bob Skandalaris with Ken Harrington Price: $26.95 + Free Shipping within the U.S.