“We” are seated at a negotiating table. “They” are seated across from us. The outcome of these talks will shape America’s future competitiveness and economic well-being. But “us” is not necessarily companies based in the United States. “Them” is not foreign nations. Rather, us is the people—most prominently, the work force—of the United States. And them is the growing cadre of global managers—supranational corporate players, whose allegiance is to enhance worldwide corporate performance, not to any one nation’s economic success.
A version of this article appeared in the March–April 1991 issue of Harvard Business Review.
