President Barack Obama Receives Frost & Sullivan's GIL (Growth, Innovation and Leadership) Visionary Award

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• Publié par: frost-sullivan
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• Langue: English

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President Barack Obama Receives Frost & Sullivan's GIL (Growth, Innovation and Leadership) Visionary Award

PR Newswire MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Aug. 30, 2012

- Support of Automotive Industry is deemed to be vital to the long-term health of the U.S. economy MOUNTAIN VIEW, California,Aug. 30, 2012/PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan believes that the true mark of leadership is when a person with great influence makes a tough, important decision in the face of great opposition.President Barack Obama's bold stance to support the U.S. automotive industry in 2009 serves as a perfect illustration of this point.As President ofthe United States, he displayed visionary perspective and genuine courage in making a crucial decision of great import to the industry and the country.For these qualities, Frost & Sullivan considers it an honor to bestow upon President Obama its GIL (Growth, Innovation and Leadership) Visionary Award. After President Obama took office, he faced an economy going in reverse, the financial infrastructure crumbling, the housing market failing, unemployment rising at alarming rates, and a country mired in two expensive wars.In the midst of this adversity, the U.S. automotive industry–the bedrock of American innovation in the 20th century–was threatened like never before.To have allowed the auto industry to be subject to pure free market influences would have risked, at a minimum, a prolonged decline of the industry. Such a decline could have caused a ripple effect of catastrophic proportions across the entire supply and value chain of the industry.President Obama had every incentive to ignore this threat, to avoid burnishing the "socialist" mantle he was saddled with by his political opponents. Instead, he chose to act. President Obama made the crucial decision to provide assistance to the Big 3 automotive firms - General Motors (GM), Chrysler and Ford (although Ford ultimately accepted a credit line as opposed to a bridge loan) - both as a critical short-term safety net and to support the long-term innovation and growth of the industry. Why is Frost & Sullivan recognizing this decision now, three and half years after it was made? The jury is in, from an economic impact standpoint. By most reliable accounts, 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs have been created in the auto industry as a result, with additional jobs saved, if not added, in ancillary industries like plastics, steel and consumer goods.In the state of Ohioalone, roughly 850,000 automotive and automotive-related jobs have been preserved, according to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). GM reclaimed the title for world leader in automotive sales in 2011, an accomplishment that could not have been contemplated back in 2009.The Big 3 automotive firms have created new jobs and added shifts, reporting double- digit sales growth as recently as June 2012.GM and Chrysler have paid back government loans well ahead of schedule (independent of the 32% ownership stake that the government still has in GM, as a long-term strategic investment). There is a renewed sense of hope and vigor in the U.S. automotive industry today, with increasing investments in R&D and innovation.