Unlike European and Japanese managers, American managers have sometimes avoided the hard, make-or-break decisions concerning technological competitiveness. Examining how this shortsighted neglect contributed to U.S. economic decline several decades ago offers useful lessons for today´s companies

Japanese companies, masters of manufactur-ing, have also been leaders in the creation, management, and use of knowledge - espe-cially the tacit and often subjective insights, intuitions, and ideas of employees.

When a company ¡s doing well, how would anyone know ¡f it could improve? A landmark benchmarking study - compar-¡ng prosperous companies with firms that have done even better - points the way.