In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity

by Eamonn Fingleton

Book Overview

Challenging conventional wisdom, Eamonn Fingleton argues that manufacturing expertise -- not the new information economy -- is crucial to jobs, exports, and growth. It is universally accepted that the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395899680
• ISBN13: 9780395899687
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Fingleton is right on target

I've lived in Japan for over 5 years and worked in both the manufacturing and sales/marketing side for a technology company. I also speak and read Japanese. I know this culture - particularly the aspect that Japanese are both proud of and recognize as vital to prosperity - manufacturing, or, to include the craft trades, "thing making". Reading "In Praise of Hard Industries" had me cheering, out loud sometimes. This guy hits it right on the head on every single aspect and effortlessly argues away the myths that Americans like to cling to as the economy falls into ruin - the viability of America's "service economy", superior American creativity, American wealth - all illusions that persist because Americans aren't educated enough or in the right way to be able to see the flimsiness of the financial channel commentators' arguments. Were's so far out of the game in manufacturing technology - both in terms of skill and mindset - that I don't know if we can ever get back in. Throw on top of that the skills in market resesarch and product marketing and sales and the prospects look even worse. Japanese companies have honed all these razor sharp and are super competetive. And our measures would certainly be complicated by the fact that the strong penetration of Japanese companies into our country as *employers* brings them strong political influence within our own borders. It's the Trojan Horse! But whatever the measures, we have to start with an honest discussion of the facts - a look in the mirror, a wakeup call. This book, along with Fingleton's others and his website, are just that.

An urgent wake-up call to America

A brilliant look at the looming economic crisis facing America, "Unsustainable" is an important wake-up call for Americans. Fingleton has done a fantastic job of explaining why America's titanic, soaring trade deficits cannot be sustained forever and how this country is increasingly dependent on oceans of foreign capital. It's difficult for me to fathom how any clear-minded thinking adult can read this powerful book and not be deepy worried about the future of America.

In Praise of Eamon Fingleton!

Shades of Nostradamus. Despite Mr. Fingleton having published this book in 1998, it is not out of date nor is it too late to read it in 2002. The author is a prophet, and I only wish I had read the book earlier, certainly before the stock market bubble popped. Furthermore, I wish this book had been the a critical document forming American political debate for the past four years. In summary of the thesis, the pathology of the nation's declining economy is manifest in the hollowing out of the manufacturing sector. We will be generations correcting the problem, or we will be another Argentina.Like a skilled coroner dissecting the victim of a brutal murder, Mr. Fingleton takes apart the myth of "postindustrialism," certainly as it pertains to the consensus of economic thinking in the US. Oh Gods of Hubris, what violence have we wrought upon our once mighty American economy by following the chimera of well-packaged economic fads. So you think steel and shipbuilding are rust-belt industries, better suited to the "third world" and without which the US is a better place? Not after you read this book. So you think we should be teaching children that their goal in life should be to grow up and be computer programmers because that is the pathway to a good job and secure future? Not so fast, pilgrims. So you think that the US does not need these so-called "commoditized" high tech manufactures like the chips and circuitry that go into the guts of even a run of the mill computer? To paraphrase a certain disgraced former President of the United States, "It all depends on what you mean by 'commoditized.'" You will probably never understand what is happening to the US economy unless and until you read this book. I am not in the business of giving advice to the President of the United States, but I will make an exception and recommend that he read "In Praise of Hard Industries." Heck, I will send him my copy if he wishes. And then, I hope that he recommends the book to every Cabinet officer, sub-Cabinet official, Member of Congress, Federal Judge, and any one else whose decisions affect policy in this country. This book is that important.

Fingleton was right all the time--and still is in 2004

Fingleton's book has been out for a while now (it is March 2002 as I write) and the new economy has indeed proven to be a mirage, as he forecast. Interestingly, the key review of this book was from the Industry Standard, a new economy magazine which was forced to close. Its reviewer says: "Economic success continues to flow to nations with advanced manufacturing bases. And what looks like a sustained boom for information-based economies will in the end turn out to have been a mirage." He should have told his publisher. So--Fingleton is a prophet, right on the money, yet this insightful book has been largely overlooked. Too bad, because it could have saved investors billions if taken seriously, and it still should be on the reading lists of policy makers in NYC, DC, and Silicon Valley. I can't praise this book strongly enough, or its author. Addendum: It is now mid-2004 and Fingleton's book is still on target. Over the past four years, additional forcing factors have weakened the US economy: Outsourcing of manufacturing and -- increasingly -- service-sector jobs (weren't those supposed to be 'our future'?); tax cuts which have led to socio-economic polarization, huge amounts of federal borrowing (mostly from abroad), and a national debt that now appears difficult or impossible to retire. Meanwhile, our trade deficits have grown as our own ability to manufacture and satisfy our domestic needs has declined, just as Fingleton said they would. See Fingleton's most recent book, Unsustainable, for major insights into this. We would do well to remember that no nation is proof against failure; none of the great ancient or modern empires survive today, and most died because of failures of insight or leadership. Unless US leaders begin to take these economic issues seriously, and do it now, this country could follow, becoming the world's largest Argentina. Fingleton's books should be mandatory reading for any voter in the 2004 presidential election, and every candidate.

Listen to an Expert with Real Japan Experience

At little risk of oversimplification, there are two kinds of Japan experts: those who have lived and worked there long-term and speak the language (even if not fully fluently), and all others. Eamonn Fingleton is in the first category and should be listened two whether one agrees with his thesis at the outset or not.Japan is counter-intuitive for most Americans and Europeans. It is another civilization and should be recognized as such. For those academic and journalistic "flatlanders" who think that all countries are converging on the US model so quickly that differences can be ignored, Eamonn Fingleton's book is a clear and well-argued protest to the contrary. Japan (and many other Asian countries) do not follow the American model and do not plan to. We ignore this at our peril, no matter what many of our Euro-centric, "flatlander" journalists and academics say. There are far fewer universal truths than most of them admit, even in business and economic policy. Perhaps they should live in Asia for a decade or more, and marry a Japanese woman as Mr. Fingleton has done.They might learn just something--like a more humble attitude toward the genuine intellectual diversity of the world. Mr. Fingleton's book is an excellent pointer in the right direction.P.S. The author has worked for Japanese bosses at IBJ and at two American companies in Japan for a total of five years, and has been involved in Japan-related business since 1985 (including an academic appointment in the Harvard Program on US-Japan Relations). He has been married to a Japanese-born wife since 1980.