Take a look at the list of the following companies: Toyota motors, nokia, canon, LG, Lenovo. And now take a look at the following list: Ford Motor Company, Motorola, Xerox, IBM.
Get the connection? Well let’s make things a little lucid.
Toyota motors displaces for motor company to become the second largest car maker in the world.
Nokia overtakes Motorola to become the world’s largest cell phone maker.
Canon becomes the market leader in copier machines ahead of Xerox.
LG dislodges carrier to become the world’s largest maker of air conditioners.
Lenovo acquires the computer division of IBM.
The above are just a few examples of the diminishing dominance of American companies in the world. These companies that have been pioneers in their fields are rapidly losing market share and leadership to other companies from the rest of the world. Is this a sign of things to come?
The emergence of these companies indicates the loss of charm for American products around the globe. The US is still the powerhouse of the world economy and still the biggest economy in the world. America can still boast about the Microsofts, GEs, Googles, Apples and , Boeings, and the Fortune 500 list is still ruled by American companies This is however being challenged by emerging markets like China and India, whose are experiencing rapid economic growth while the US economy continues to grow at a much lower pace each year.
Lenovo of China shocked the world when it announced that it would be taking over the personal computer division of IBM, Chinese television maker TCL acquired Thomson Electronics of France which gave it control of the RCA brand in the US, Chinese appliance maker Haier is bidding for US appliance maker Maytag while yet another Chinese company CNOOC made a surprise bid for Unocal Corp,
outbidding another American oil company, Chevron. The bid - easily the largest foreign takeover attempt ever by a Chinese company - has sparked political concerns in the US about the implications of China's rise as an economic power. A lot of Indian companies also have started acquiring smaller American companies. Indian pharmaceutical companies like Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy’s have already established their presence in the US markets. Most US companies have outsourced their IT departments to companies like Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and TCS.
Globalization has led to more and more competitive foreign companies to set up bases in the North American continent. These emerging companies are gradually gobbling up market share and proving to be serious competition to the local companies.
As more jobs continue to move to low cost countries, more US companies continue to declare bankruptcy and more foreign companies continue to capture the market share in the worlds biggest economy, US companies seem to be losing their shine with each passing day. Is this the precursor to worst economic slump in American history? Will the world see Microsoft being acquired by Infosys or Google being acquired by Baidu.com. Will the Fortune 500 be overcrowded with foreign companies ten years down the lane? Is corporate America prepared to challenge foreign companies? Time will tell.
