Editor profile
Senior Editor, North American Markets & Outlook
Michael Sterling analyzes macroeconomic trends and long-term industrial shifts across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He provides strategic foresight into regional economic growth and consumer cycles.
michael.sterling@northamericabiz.orgBased on Oliver Wyman's analysis of 1,500 cities, Asia is becoming the new center of global growth. This article interprets this trend from a North American business perspective, exploring corporate strategies, investment opportunities, and changes in the competitive landscape.
A KPMG survey shows that 42% of Canadian manufacturers are considering moving to the United States or delaying investments due to trade tensions. This is not just a stress response to tariff shocks, but also heralds a deep reshaping of the North American manufacturing landscape. Canada is facing the risk of industrial hollowing out, while the U.S. Midwest and Southern states will become the biggest beneficiaries.
Analyze the trend of enterprises shifting from relying on media to establishing their own news centers, and explore the reasons for changes in information dissemination structure and the upgrading of corporate communication strategies.
Japan's corporate M&A wave shifts from China to ASEAN and the US, totaling $158 billion. This article analyzes the geopolitical, tariff, and supply chain logic behind this shift, as well as how it reshapes the North America-Asia capital flow landscape, and explores its impact on industrial chains and regional competition.
As AI significantly lowers the barriers to cross-border e-commerce, small U.S. retailers are entering a golden age of internationalization, but the real competition lies in building localized trust, not just translation.
This article analyzes the digitalization, zero-tariff, and sustainable cold chain strategies promoted by the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) under the pressures of trade tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, and regulations, and explores the adaptation and reshaping of the North American cold chain industry.
Mozambique's new law requires state ownership in mining, marking an escalation of resource nationalism in Africa. This article analyzes the impact of this trend on North American mining investment and critical mineral supply chain security, as well as how Canadian and US companies are adjusting their strategies to cope with increasing political risks.
Colliers’ assessment of the U.S. hotel industry in 2026 is not just “moderate growth.” What is more noteworthy is that demand is being reorganized by income tier, consumers’ preference for “value for money” continues to rise, and AI is beginning to shift from an auxiliary tool to a structural variable in operations and revenue management. This means the competitive logic of the hotel industry is shifting from a simple pursuit of occupancy rates to a comprehensive contest of capital efficiency, customer segmentation, and technological capability.
This analysis interprets a deeper shift from the perspective of capital allocation: some investors are beginning to view biotechnology as an alternative direction to hedge AI valuation risk. This is not merely an industry rotation, but also reflects a rebalancing in North American tech capital’s growth narrative, risk appetite, and long-term return expectations.
Japanese companies’ new investment in the Philippines may, on the surface, look like a cross-border expansion of production, but in essence it reflects global manufacturing’s evolution into a new stage marked by finer specialization, more dispersed layouts, and a shift toward regions closer to demand and with cost advantages. The simultaneous increase in investment in shipbuilding, electronics, semiconductors, and AI-related industries shows that the Philippines is upgrading from a traditional outsourcing destination into a manufacturing node with stronger industrial synergy.
U.S. trade policy is once again turning toward Canada and Mexico, indicating that USMCA has not eliminated policy frictions within North America. Rising tariff expectations are changing companies’ judgments about supply chains, capacity布局, and capital returns, and North American integration is entering a stage of repricing.
NFIB's latest industry survey shows that small-business optimism in the construction, manufacturing, retail, and service sectors all declined in April 2026 compared with the previous quarter. On the surface, it appears to be a pullback in sentiment, but in reality it reflects how expectations for demand, labor constraints, inventory adjustments, and cost pressures are simultaneously reshaping the U.S. Main Street economy.