Michael Porter, the creator of the competitiveness advantage theory, stressed that the economic divide in America is only set to get worse during a panel discussion hosted by the American Security Project and the Harvard Business School Wednesday afternoon.
"If we’re going to make headway on this issue we need to make people understand what competiveness is about." Porter said.
Porter said it not the multinational businesses that are going to suffer, but rather that America is suffering as a place to "do business."
"Competitiveness … is about a semi-skilled worker who is middle class or lower, that is where the fault line is in this issue, those are the people who will suffer and not advance and not have opportunity if we don’t advance on this issue" he said.
"We will simply go into a downward spiral," Porter said after eluding that American politics will get increasingly more partisan if the federal government and privately owned businesses continue to ignore the growing divide between the highly educated and less educated workforces.
This is the first time The Harvard Business School (HBS) has taken on such a public issue. With a large and influential alumni base the HBS in partnership with the American Security Project plans to confront Washington directly about America’s waning " competitiveness."