Roger Martin at BusinessWeek asks, "What Innovation Advantage?"

There is a romantic notion in North American business that its future lies in design and innovation, while India and China will be the home of less skilled, lower-paying operations churning out the products and services the U.S. comes up with.

Romantic here is a euphemism for wishful and perhaps the least bit dumb.

What makes this notion romantic is that it’s not at all supported by conditions on the ground. Martin reels off a list of indian companies he visited in Hyderabad, Bombay and Bangalore—names you’ve either heard of or not: Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam Computer Services, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies—where innovation goes on full-tilt; where they don’t know creativity is a first world prerogative.

Detroit and her investors learned the hard way (if they’ve learned at all) that companies who enter the market with little more than a manufacturing cost advantage—as Asian auto-makers once did—are capable of designing their way to a head-to-head contest for every product category. "Assuming that capabilities are static and advantages are permanent is a mistake," Martin says.

No kidding. And people like us should be the first to see that. Why? Because we’re convinced every human being bears the image of our Creator. If we’re right about that then we are all creative by design—no matter who, no matter where. What’s more, we believe work elevates the worker. Human beings are widely observed to find so much meaning and joy in significant work that, absent a biblical worldview we can be tempted to worship the work itself!

Business competition is global now and that’s that. There is no place for arrogance and no time for complacency. People who know what we claim to know about human nature and the God who made us to work, know better than to underestimate anyone. If we don’t, we’ll find out soon enough.