One must wonder now about the US government’s push, under President Trump, to withdraw from international trading agreements, limit imported labor and roll back the progressive moves that have been made in substitutions for fossil fuels. It appears that Newton’s first law which states that bodies in motion tend to remain in motion a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force has interesting business applications as well as physical ones. Although the government attempts to change the course of immigration, energy, and medical laws/regulations there seems to be insufficient force to do so. Once business has made up its mind on how it should act, and what is in its best strategic interest particularly on a global scale, it is quite difficult for a congress or president to set about altering the decisions by mandate.
The auto industry has made up its mind that it is necessary to shift to electric cars with Volvo’s statement which states that they will not make petroleum engines in just a few years as an example. Even more convincing of the shift is Audi, which announced that it is leaving the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in favor of joining formula E (new electric racing division) as racing has always been a significant source of R&D in the auto industry. This was followed by Porsche, stating it too was leaving the WEC in favor of formula E in 2019. Even Mercedes has joined the “E” club departing the German touring car series DTM to become a participant in FE in 2019. It would appear that the auto lemmings have made a survival decision and turned left leaving only the Trump government and oil interests to jump off the cliff. It should be noted that not all are jumping and Chevron is one of the world’s largest investor in alternative research.
So back to Newton. Whether it is political sanctuary cities or management strategy decisions it appears that the collective wisdom of direction and the inertia behind that direction will prevail unless there is a compelling and overwhelming force, such as the financial crisis legislation, bearing down on it. Consider VW for an example of change and government. Brought to its legal knees over developing software to cheat the pollutions standards VW essentially said, your limits cannot be met so we are turning away from Diesel and toward alternatives. Porsche makes a seven-speed gearbox. Why one might ask do we need so many gears and what do they do? Answer: nothing for the driver who will most likely never use them. What act, much like VW’s software as a trick to lower the drive ratio and get better gas mileage to report when doing the EPA driving test. It’s a lot like putting your car in neutral going down hill for a mile and recording the gas mileage.
Add Darwinian evolutionary theory to our classic Newtonian discussion. Darwin never said the fittest, or even the smartest will survive. What was said was that those that can change in the most positive direction will survive. There is surely a lesson here for Sears, Taxis, malls, and even governments who try to keep old business models alive.
The shifts in the auto industry may not be driven by altruistic reasons but that, in fact, does not matter much. What does matter is that business is recognizing Darwin’s suggestion that change in a positive direct means survival and Newton’s suggestion that when that path is defined it will require a significant amount of outside energy to alter it. There is a lesson here as well concerning international trade agreements. And that lesson, from Physics again, is that nature abhors a vacuum. Should one nation (US) decide to withdraw from a trading group then that vacuum will be naturally filled by another (China, Germany). Physics cannot tell you who is better or worse off as the space is filled it can only tell you it will be filled. Perhaps business is ahead of government is recognizing “It’s not nice to fool mother nature.”
The Journal of Transnational Management and the IMDA
The Journal of Transnational Management is the official journal of the International Management Development Association (IMDA) and has represented authors from all regions of the Globe. Readers of the Journal who are not familiar with the IMDA are encouraged to consult the IMDA web site at http://www.imda.cc for information concerning the professional organization’s activities as well as the complete listing of prior and the next congress site. World Congresses are held in a different region of the world each year and serve to provide the opportunity for members to come together to share ideas concerning international management development.
The Journal of Transnational Management seeks the interesting balance in maintaining its self as a high quality professional publication while continuing to distinguish itself as a leader in providing authors from developing nation’s editorial assistance. This is deemed essential to optimize the opportunity for these authors to present their management articles to an international audience. The journal has a dedicated editorial board that is multinational in scope and prepared to provide the assistance needed to encourage authors from nations that are not the traditional contributors with their submissions. The journal, in addition to research publications, is interested in receiving media/book reviews. Information concerning the JTMD relating to past volumes and submission information is available on the web site (www.imda.cc) of the IMDA.