Effective participation in the international standards arena has become a prerequisite for competitiveness in the global marketplace. Although now troubled by financial turmoil in Asia and Latin America, this marketplace is critical to the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. From 1993 to 1997, increases in U.S. exports fueled about one-fourth of the growth in the nation's gross domestic product. More than 11 million jobs are supported by exports. In the manufacturing sector, wages for export-related jobs are 12 to 15 percent higher than the sector average.
Exports can be a powerful economic engine.
Just how powerful will depend in large part on how successfully the decentralized U.S. standards system can advance U.S. technology interests at the international level. Other countries and other regions have made standards an integral element of their competition policies. For example, in the late 1980s, Europe advanced a single standard for the current generation of digital cellular phones. Meanwhile, U.S. companies were slugging it out in the market, each aiming to position its particular technology as the de facto standard by building an enormous base of subscribers that could not be ignored. European companies bypassed the fray, concentrated on enlisting subscribers worldwide, and emerged victorious.