Does American business still have it?
At The New York Forum’s opening plenary, Reinvention: The Corporate Imperative, Cathleen Black, President, Hearst Magazines, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corporation, Jerry Speyer, Chairman and CEO, Tishman Speyer, and Philippe Camus, Chairman, Alcatel-Lucent, discussed some of the key issues facing global businesses today. For 90 minutes, the panelists engaged in a lively discussion about the economy and the challenges needed to drive its growth, moderated by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo.
Fueling the discussion was the fundamental question posed by NYF founder Richard Attias in his opening remarks: “What do we actually need to do to reinvent ourselves?”
Murdoch spoke about the tremendous dislocation caused by new technologies in media. “We’re seeing a tremendous increase in innovation, and a lot of that is disruptive to our industries,” he said. Murdoch has often criticized the trend to provide news for free on the Internet. He summed up his beliefs by paraphrasing the economist Milton Friedman. “Milton Friedman said there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, there’s no such thing as a free story.”
The discussion shifted towards more general views on the U.S. and global economy. Bartiromo wondered whether the U.S. was on an inevitable downward track. Murdoch: “No question.” But he emphasized his faith in New York City: “This is still the greatest city in the greatest economyin the world to operate in, but we have to do a lot of things right.”
Black cautioned that New York City, and the country in general, needed to stay appealing to young people, who provide the energy and new ideas. “If we don’t have the appeal to younger people, they’ll go to Austin or Shanghai,” she said.
Speyer raised a different concern. “One of the biggest challenges business will face is people,” he said. “We’re going to run out of people. By stopping immigration, we’re stopping one of the things that made this country great.”
Camus, reflecting on his company’s global operations, worried about the economic future for Europe. “Europe has a real problem,” he said, “which is a level of fixed cost which is much too high.” He cited figures on the average retirement age in France, which is below 60, as a tremendous waste of human capital.
For all the concerns, the panelists were generally optimistic about the prospects for business in the U.S. in particular. “This country at its heart is still very entrepreneurial,” said Murdoch.
