10. Global Enterprise

More manufacturers in Canada will be global enterprises. As such, the scope of their international business activities will extend far beyond trade. Companies will not just import goods for further processing or distribution in Canada and produce goods in this country for export. They will operate their businesses on a global scale, investing to secure assets around the world, expanding their operations into other countries, sourcing skills and technologies on a worldwide basis, allocating resources and consolidating their activities according to global business plans. They will do business wherever the money is, wherever the returns on their investments are the highest – if not in Canada, then somewhere else.

Anchoring the Enterprise

In the global economy of 2020, money, knowledge, and people will be highly mobile. What will anchor the high value-adding activities that are part of the business of manufacturing here in Canada?

Our existing assets – our resources, our skilled workforce, our proximity to the United States, our political, legal, and fiscal regimes – will help, but they can no longer guarantee our economic prosperity nor that Canada will be able to retain, let alone grow, its manufacturing base.

According to manufacturers, the vitality of their industry in Canada will be determined by:

• Leadership – the ability to define and achieve a vision for future business success;
• Capital formation – the basis for business growth;
• People – the knowledge, skills, experience, creativity, flexibility, entrepreneurship, and dynamism of their workforce;
• Knowledge capture – the ability to control design, branding, and intellectual property, and therefore the returns on innovation;
• Market control – the ability of companies in Canada to “be masters of what customers want” around the world;
• Access to a robust North American and Canadian marketplace, to provide the critical mass or platform for global business development; and,
• A high-value production base that will in turn attract and retain services, design, and innovation activities.