Like concepts such as national energy policy or war on drugs, competitiveness covers a lot of territory - Allen B. Rosenstein

The pressure to generate the ideas and methods attributed to Systems Engineering stems directly from the needs of 20th century society. As our frontiers have disappeared, man has turned to technology to furnish the "good life" in a rapidly shrinking, crowded world. Our interdependence upon one another has increased in direct proportion to the population increase. The race to maintain or improve the operating efficiency of society has required that the systems and mechanisms that serve the society also become increasingly complex and interdependent. Goode and Machal have provided statistics to illustrate the above. They note that the world population increased from 800 million in 1750, to 1200 million in 1850, and 2400 million in 1950. Maximum transportation speeds went from 40 mph in 1850, and 100 mph in 1900, to commercial transport speed of 350 mph in 1950 and supersonic transport planes of over 1200 mph in the 1960's. Our communication systems are a good indication of increasing complexity. U.S. telephones jumped from 350,000 in 1900, to 55 million in 1955.

For generation accustomed to thinking of the United States as the world's leading industrial power, something was lost when the U.S, became the world's largest debtor.

In a city where buzzwords and catch phrases have a half-life of perhaps six months to a year, the term and the concept of "competitiveness" have lasted much longer; there is every sign we'll hear it for many years to come.