After the Swiss Institute of Management Development in Lausanne released those rankings of national competitiveness, there was a chorus of voices attacking government for not doing enough. Yet when Porter was lecturing to a room full of business executives, he expressed his surprise about this: "Can a private sector that is many times larger than government escape all blame for a drop in national competitiveness rankings?"
瑞士洛桑學院的競爭力初步排名揭曉後，眾口一聲，大家都將責任歸咎於政府沒這裡沒做好、那裡有缺失，反倒波特當著滿場企業主管們表達了他的訝異﹘ ﹘國家競爭力排名掉落，難道人力物力比政府大上好幾倍的私營企業部門，一點責任都沒有嗎？