The Competitive Status Of The U S Steel Industry

This volume examines the influences of technology and international trade policies on the troubled U.S. steel industry. Does leadership in technology guarantee competitive advantage in industrial markets? Or do the costs of production and the lack of investment capital offset technological gains for the domestic steel industry? Which international trade policies can help this industry, and which may be harming it? With these and other questions in view, The Competitive Status of the U.S. Steel Industry estimates global trends in steel trade, discusses patterns of production and consumption, and analyzes the possible effects of alternative governmental policies on this critically important industry.

By the end of the 1980s, the once mighty U.S. steel industry seemed on its last legs, with more than a quarter of a million jobs lost overseas. Yet today the industry stands again as a world-class competitor. This fascinating book illuminates the forces behind this remarkable comeback, illustrating valuable lessons for managers in any business now battling the global marketplace. 12 illustrations.

This book examines the current difficulties facing the U.S. steel industry and policy options to tackle them.

What is the cause of the American steel industry's deplorable situation today? Troubled in many areas—competition from imports, technology implementation, cost and utilization of raw materials, investment policy, philosophy of management, and union attitudes, to name only a few—can the industry survive? These are the questions Dr. Kiers confronts in this book. Unless answers can be found, he warns, the result will be further decline and, finally, bankruptcy or nationalization. Unwilling to accept either possibility, Dr. Kiers challenges the steel industry to achieve a rebirth he sees as feasible only through a hard-nosed, realistic approach, an insistence on innovation, and a willingness to apply discipline to every facet of steel making. Dr. Kiers presents an in-depth analysis of Japan's steel industry, compares it with the U.S. industry, and discusses U.S. technology and import problems with reference to Japan. He then inventories the factors responsible for the current problems and lays the groundwork for a new start, going on to point out that the difficulties faced by the steel industry may be a portent of what will happen to other industries unless they, too, reassess both labor and management attitudes and make radical changes.