Manufacturing: Critical to Innovation and Economic Growth

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Smith, both Harvard Business School professors, wrote that America has not only damaged its economy through outsourcing, and its subsequent loss of innovation, but that America must regain its foothold in manufacturing and reign in corporate management structures that “exaggerate the payoffs and discount the dangers of outsourcing production and cutting investments in R&D.”

We talk about it a lot at Sunrider, but this article makes it all the more clear: Investing hundreds of millions of dollars into our manufacturing facilities ensures our creations are of the highest quality, exclusive to Sunrider, and incredibly innovative. When a company begins outsourcing its manufacturing needs to other companies, its grasp on the entire creation process is loosened and those other companies may very likely strike out on their own and become competitors: “After a contractor has evolved into an ODM [original design manufacturer], there’s little preventing it from launching its own brand and becoming a competitor.”

Innovation also falters with the onslaught of outsourcing. Pisano and Smith say it’s a myth that the United States can “thrive exclusively as a hub for high-value-added design and innovation” and that it’s rare for new products to be developed without the involvement of the manufacturing process. The real clincher is that an economy that lacks manufacturing infrastructure will, simply, “lose its ability to innovate.” Drs. Chen recognized the potential downfalls of outsourcing and chose to invest in multi-million dollar facilities and focus on the creation and innovation of powerful herbal and natural products.

Because Drs. Chen opted not to save on the bottom line through outsourcing, Sunrider® products aren’t prey to poor quality and stale innovation. Instead, Sunrider customers enjoy products of the utmost caliber and optimal innovation.