Sommaire de l’épisode
Nous discutons stratégie et innovation et un peu de géopolitique nord-américaine avec le Professeur Stephen Blank.
Beaucoup d’opportunités, beaucoup d’investissements à faire et des choix stratégiques de plus en plus difficiles à tous les niveaux. Sans oublier une réflexion approfondie sur la notion d’infrastructure publique en ce qui concerne les infrastructures du futur. Et attention à la technologie pour le plaisir de la technologie…
Stephen Blank vit et travaille à New York. Il détient un baccalauréat de l’université Dartmouth, des maîtrises des universités de Cambridge et de Harvard ainsi qu’un PhD de Harvard. Il est Senior Fellow de l’Institut sur la science, la recherche et les politiques publiques de l’Université d’Ottawa et Senior Fellow de l’Institut Macdonald Laurier.
La carrière de Stephen Blank couvre les milieux universitaires, d’affaires et des organismes sans but lucratif. Pendant de nombreuses années, son travail a porté sur les relations entre le secteur public et le secteur privé et ce tant au niveau national qu’international. Il est connu pour ses travaux sur l’intégration nord-américaine concernant le régionalisme, les corridors commerciaux, les systèmes de production et de distribution transfrontaliers et les infrastructures.
Stephen Blank a été International Affairs Fellow du Council on Foreign Relations et chercheur en résidence à la Villa Serbeloni en Italie. Il fut également professeur Claude Bissell des relations Canada- États-Unis à l’Université de Toronto, professeur distingué Fulbright à l’Université de Montréal, professeur invité distingué Ross à l’Université Western Washington et titulaire de la chaire Fulbright de gouvernance et d’administration publique à l’Université d’Ottawa. Il a été directeur général du PanAm Partnership for Business Education et coprésident du North American Transportation Competitiveness Research Council. En 2012-2014, il a codirigé Leadership Nouveau, un projet parrainé par HEC Montréal portant sur l’impact des forces émergentes sur les institutions artistiques et culturelles.
M. Blank est l’auteur/coauteur de nombreux livres et articles a été décoré de l’Ordre national du Québec par le gouvernement du Québec.
Détails de l’épisode
(0:00) Bienvenue à l’épisode 25
- Entrevue avec Stephen Blank.
- Professeur, Consultant et Conférencier expert.
(00:43) Introduction
- Qui est Stephen Blank.
- Profil et carrière.
(02:28) In your opinion, what will be the lasting legacy on business and consumers of the Covid-19 crisis?
- Communications will change dramatically.
- Within 12 months, the videoconferencing technology will revolutionize teaching, medicine, marketing and many other aspects of the economy.
- There is now plenty of money for investment, mostly new money.
- But will these new innovations will be considered as public goods or marketable goods?
- The rise or fall in inequalities is largely dependent on the answer to that question.
(05:13) Covid-19, again, has lowered some resistances to change across many industries and customers. How to benefit from this opportunity? Is it already late for strategic initiatives or is it just beginning?
- New ideas will come up and propose value to sectors who are in crisis or experiencing problems, such as superior education in the United States.
- Many investments will fail but others will work and transform society and institutions.
- There will be no shortage of opportunities. 70 years after the end of WWII, change has been incremental.
- From now on, change will be non-incremental.
- Scenario analysis will identify very different directions for organizations instead of similar ones.
- There has not been a time in my lifetime where opportunities and technology have been so plentiful.
- Take software: investment is low and talent is readily available in the United States.
(10:10) What are the coming innovations you are following in Transportation?
- Two issues: physical infrastructures and 21st-century infrastructure.
- We need to enhance the maintenance of existing infrastructure, but will we spend too much on that?
- How much will be spent on building 21st Century infrastructure?
- Example: smart infrastructure as opposed to self-driving vehicles.
- Transit automation also needs investment. Charging stations need to be developed. Will they be as a public good or as private infrastructure? What are the impacts of transportation electrification on energy producers?
- These issues are also an opportunity.
(17:50) We talk a lot about smart cities, do you see “smart transportation” emerging?
- What I would like I don’t see yet! More busses, automated busses, driving assistance embedded in the roads for example.
- Or other ways of moving stuff from point A to point B.
- Green trucks are good but a growing economy means more trucks. But beware of technology gone wild.
(25:07) You are also an expert in international trade: where do you see US-China relations going post-Covid-19?
- China is looking to expand like in the Han dynasty period.
- Not conquering but establishing a zone of control around mainland China by overloading them with exports. Except Taïwan, if only for neutralizing opposition.
- China wants to be the leading technology center of the world.
- China has a huge population that is starting to age. We can press for openness in matters of trade but not much more.
- We need to see them as powerful competitors, as Japan once was. I worry more about the United States being able to raise to the challenge given the lack of public-private collaboration.
- It is not a military question.
(29:49) Where do you see Canada-US relations going forward?
- Canada is becoming irrelevant.
- Small economy, militarily inexistent, Canada missed the boat by not taking the lead in north-american trade issues.
- NAFTA should have been a Canadian treaty.
- Canadians will continue to be successful in the north-american economy.
- Maybe climate and the Artic is a direction where Canada can show leadership.
- Most Canadian universities have a “doing business with China” course, almost none have a “doing business in North America” course.
(35:54) Conclusion
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