Making things in factories remains central to the world economy: Manufacturing generated $13.8 trillion worldwide in 2019 according to the World Bank. And the distribution of manufacturing chains across the globe is the source of never-ending political debate. The pandemic has brought fresh urgency to the discussion of whether the United States should bring more of its manufacturing back home, for example. Yet myths about manufacturing persist — and they can lead to expensive subsidies, friction between nations and higher prices for consumers. We will discuss five such misconceptions in this talk.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN! A link to the webinar will be sent prior to the event (by 11am EST, 10/29) to those who sign up. Registration will be open until 11am, Thursday, October 29, 2020. You should receive a confirmation email after registering. If not, contact the NEC for that or any other questions at manager@national-economists.org.

About our speaker:

Kasra Ferdows teaching and research is focused on management global production and supply chains. He came to Georgetown from INSEAD (in Fontainebleau, France), where he taught for ten years. He has also taught, as a visiting faculty, at Harvard, Stanford, and Melbourne Business Schools. He is a life-time Fellow and former President of the Production and Operations Management Society and a Fellow of the European Operations Management Association and past acting dean of the McDonough School of Business.

He has over a hundred publications in academic journals, books, and other outlets. He has written award-winning cases and been ranked to be among the world’s top 20 best-selling author by the Case Centre multiple years during the last decade. As a consultant and teacher, he has worked with several multinational companies including Astra (Indonesia), Barilla (Italy), BASF (Germany), BHP (Australia), Danfoss (Denmark), Eli Lilly (France), Ford of Europe (UK), Hewlett-Packard (US), General Electric (US), Heinz (Poland), Johnson and Johnson (US), IBM (US), Irish Development Agency (Ireland), Nissan (Japan), Norsk Hydro (Norway), Pechiney (now Rio Tinto, France), PepsiAmericas (US), SABMiller (now Anheueser-Busch InBev, South Africa), Unilever (Mexico) and the World Bank Group (US).