The conference room in the University of Akron's Business College was filled with representatives from a variety of old line firms, such as Goodyear, Forest City, Roadway and Sherwin Williams. Each one discussed how their companies had used innovation to cope with global competitors. Taking notes were Harvard scholar and tech company guru Vivek Wadhwa and Business Week international news editor Peter Engardio.
After the session, Wadhwa and Engardio said they were impressed with what they heard from the local businessmen.
WADHWA: Considering that these were all older companies, the fact that they were all able to talk about innovation was fascinating to me. So, obviously, these people have been kicked in the butt.
ENGARDIO: All of them were talking about how they had changed their business models to respond to...getting kicked.
Both men will make an appearance at the City Club of Cleveland this afternoon to discuss their research. Wadhwa says he wants to focus on what he considers to be myths and realities in the debate over the benefits of globalization.
You can catch the live City Club broadcast at 12:30p.m., here on 90.3.
