A. Mcmullian on manufacturing
From Leaders and Legends - Amos McMullian · · Johns Hopkins University
“Manufacturing jobs in this country have gone from 40 plus percent of the workforce down to 17 percent and still going down. These are the wealth-creating jobs. Those jobs didn't go overseas because people were unpatriotic; they went overseas because they had competitors who had a cost advantage and they had to find a way to get that cost to manage or become bankrupt. Those jobs are not coming back until and unless reforms happen in this country.”
On , A. Mcmullian, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of Board at FLOWERS FOODS INC, spoke about manufacturing during Leaders and Legends - Amos McMullian on Johns Hopkins University.
About A. Mcmullian
In a 2009 lecture at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Flowers Foods Chairman Emeritus Amos McMullian discussed the relationship between business and government, arguing that U.S. policies placed American companies at a competitive disadvantage. He stated that the United States had the second-highest corporate income tax rate among 25 industrialized nations and was the only one where businesses, rather than the government, paid for healthcare. McMullian said manufacturing jobs had declined from over 40% of the workforce to 17%, and he attributed this to cost advantages held by foreign competitors, adding that those jobs would not return without policy reforms. McMullian also offered advice on management and career development. He said that "opportunities come disguised as problems" and urged leaders to "learn to be bold" after understanding the difference between boldness and recklessness. He emphasized the importance of early accountability in business, stating that his company tested employees early so that mistakes were small and costs low. McMullian criticized what he described as an adversarial relationship between government and business, and he encouraged greater political involvement, noting that only 7% of Americans were active in politics while 97% followed sports.