Deloitte made its forecast after surveying the opinions of manufacturing industry executives for its 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index.

Deloitte says “executives expect the US to assume the top position before the end of the decade”. 

Currently, Deloitte says China is the most competitive nation, followed by the US in second, Germany in third, and Japan and South Korea placed fourth and fifth respectively.

In an effort to help regions across the U.S. become more economically stable, the government is making funds available to educational institutions.

Under the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2016 University Center Economic Development Program Competition, a total of $2,518,373 in grants to 24 colleges and universities in 16 states and Puerto Rico will distributed to run five-year programs that will leverage university assets to “promote American innovation and strengthen regional economies."

In today’s highly competitive market, executives must work harder than ever to ensure their company’s brand stands out, operates with a clear purpose, and maintains consumer appeal. In a 2015 study, “Bonfire of the Brands,” PwC traced the long-term success of more than 6,700 brands from around the world over the previous 16 years, using data from BAV Consulting on consumer perception of brands. The study found that consumers expect the best-known brands to do nothing less than have a role in shaping their world; the brands they favor must be innovative and, increasingly, trustworthy and visionary.

An international bank recently decided it wanted to see how customers would respond to a new email offer. They pulled together a mailing list, cleaned it up, iterated on copy and design, and checked with legal several times to get the needed approvals. Eight weeks later, they were ready to go.

In a world where people decide whether to abandon a web page after three seconds and Quicken Loans gives an answer to online mortgage applicants in less than ten minutes, eight weeks for an email test pushes a company to the boundaries of irrelevance. For many large incumbents, however, such a glacial pace is the norm.

A job at a large company used to bring with it several advantages, not the least of which was generally higher pay than similar employees working at a smaller firm. Called the firm-size wage effect, the phenomenon has been extensively studied by economists and sociologists as it has eroded in the last three decades and affected everything from employer-employee relationships to income inequality.

Maria, an executive in financial services, stared at another calendar invite in Outlook that would surely kill three hours of her day. Whenever a tough problem presented itself, her boss’s knee-jerk response was, “Collect more data!” Maria appreciated her boss’s analytical approach, but as the surveys, reports, and stats began to pile up, it was clear that the team was stuck in analysis paralysis. And despite the many meetings, task forces, brainstorming sessions, and workshops created to solve any given issue, the team tended to offer the same solutions — often ones that were recycled from prior problems.

This is a story about a successful consultant I know. He works with wonderful clients on interesting projects. He gets to travel around the United States and internationally, visiting well-trod as well as unusual, exotic, and remote locales. He’s always meeting amazing people, solving important problems, and engaging in social impact activities.

And yet, simple problems can make him crazy.

“Working in a third-world country will be a logistical nightmare.”

“No one will want such bright patterns on shoes.”

“Why aren’t your sales higher already?”

These are a few of the sorts of things people said to me as I started PATOS, a line of modern sneakers made with traditional Peruvian textiles that I’ve spent the last two years bringing to market. The idea for the business came to me during my freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania. I was visiting extended family in Argentina and met an artisan named Rafael at a flea market there.

LiveStories recently announced our seed round. Initially, our goal was to raise $2 million. We ended up raising $3 million. Our success occurred against the backdrop of venture capital investments generally slowing down. Going into fundraising, we received many warnings about the difficult fundraising environment. We were told to expect a long, drawn out process.

Over the last five years, the venture capital ecosystem has seen a significant rise in theme focused investment funds.

SaaS funds, hardware funds and my latest guest’s focus, consumer funds have all proliferated. So here to discuss these shifts is Justin Caldbeck, the co-founder of Binary Capital.

Value Add To Portfolio Companies

Thematic funds, in the majority of cases, have the ability to provide a much greater level of operational support, according to Caldbeck. As he suggests, “we have many companies at this stage, in this sector that the resources are very close to hand.”

Britain's nascent crowdfunding industry is at risk of "a shake out of the smaller players" in 2017 as momentum slows, according to a new industry report.

Industry data provider AltFi and law firm Nabarro's "Where are they now? 2016" report, released on Tuesday, predicts that 2016 will see the crowdfunding sector raise less than it did in the prior year for the first time since crowdfunding emerged in 2011.

Get in the habit of producing good financial reports every single month. But you need more than just standard financial reports. You need a Management Dashboard that monitors critical metrics that may not pop out of your accounting reports. These monthly reports are a learning opportunity: What did we think would happen? What actually happened? Why was there a difference? Are we on track to hit our key milestones?

Last month, I talked about how the city of Solna became Sweden’s fastest growing city. It became a business-friendly city within 20 years, by lowering taxes on income, by focusing on key investors and developers, and by impressing upon its people that “this is the place to be.”

Today, I will share with you the experience of Torino, an Italian city that underwent a neighborhood regeneration process started in 2009. It was one of the inspirational stories featured at the 13th ASIALICS International Conference in Bangkok.

Federal funding agencies have been eager to support younger researchers, reflecting a widespread belief that nurturing the next generation is critical to ensuring the long-term success of the nation’s scientific enterprise. A new analysis out of Northeastern University, however, is challenging the orthodoxy. Looking across a variety of fields, the study found that while a researcher’s productivity generally declines with age, creativity and impact do not.

Networking is important for career growth but not everyone loves it.

Eric, an executive at a city firm, developed close ties with an associate partner while working on a special project. The relationship was envied by many of his cohort who saw it as a major asset for future advancement. However, once the project concluded, so did the regular contact and, as Eric did little to cultivate the relationship, it faded over time. “He should be important for me,” Eric noted later, “But since I see a network as something which happens naturally and not artificially, I didn’t really try to keep him.”

How a family business manages its in-laws should be decided by its values.

There is no template for succession planning in family businesses. How a family business owner hands over the reins to their child or children and how successful the transfer is depends on years of planning.

But even those who plan ahead and have “the conversation” with their children about running the enterprise can face challenges. Today more than ever, children of family owners want to spread their wings, some to escape the clutches of the family empire, others simply to gain “real world” experience before they eventually return to the family business.

Finally, there’s a drug available to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare, fatal genetic muscle-wasting disease that grips roughly 10,000 people, mostly boys, in the U.S., who are unlikely to live into their 30s and typically lose the ability to walk in adolescence.

On Sept. 19, the Food and Drug Administration approved Exondys 51 (eteplirsen) after reviewing a clinical trial and hearing words of support from 50 advocates on behalf of the drug, including families with children living with the disease, experts on the illness at UCLA, and even a few politicians, like Florida senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

The international event gathers every year about 300 people from public and private sectors coming from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The 25th edition was dedicated to the global transformation in relation with the increasing digitalization of the world.

My Dad never gives up, he never takes it lying down… he started his own blog at the age of 64, started a freelance writing career, alongside an NGO for empowering young people to pursue their dreams and succeed early on.

Yeah, talk about drive. Dr. Myles Munroe (of blessed memory) once made a very profound statement when he said; “The wealthiest place on earth is not the oil wells of Saudi Arabia, but the graveyard… because in it are dreams that never took flight, businesses that were never started, songs never written and goals never reached.”

Well, we’re finally here on the backstretch of this election. And, no matter the candidate you support, you have more than likely been subject to a lot of worry and stress.

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This emotional response, brought on by the constant barrage of commercials, talking heads and debate may have taken a bit more from you than you realize. From you, and from your business.