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Read moreAs we celebrate America’s 250th milestone, economies face another strategic inflection point. Global integration is evolving, and geopolitical and geoeconomic forces are reshaping markets. Long-standing assumptions about growth are being tested by technological change and shifting demands from government and civil society.
Yet, history suggests this is precisely the environment for reflection and renewal on the success and future of American competitiveness and the enterprises fueling that.
The opportunity now is to translate enduring national endowments into strategies that are resilient, innovative and growth-oriented, building the conditions for sustained growth across increasingly complex domestic and global stakeholder environments.
The 250th anniversary of the United States (US) provides a natural moment to celebrate and look forward to the next evolution of American competitiveness.
The world is undergoing significant structural change across geopolitics, demographics, technology and sustainability. The stakes are high: in the inaugural EY-Parthenon Growth Survey, 80% of corporate growth leaders surveyed say the environment for business growth is more challenging than it was a year ago. More than half of global CEO respondents (56%) also now cite geopolitics as a key near-term risk to business execution.
These global dynamics raise inquiry about how US businesses can position themselves for future international competitiveness. History shows that US companies have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to adapt their economic models, shape institutions and redefine the business landscape to navigate periods of structural change.
Today, such a necessity is vital as the global economy shifts from an era defined by efficiency and integration to one increasingly shaped by strategic competition for energy, technology and talent, alongside government-sponsored industrial policy and the emergence of new growth pathways. This reconfiguration creates an opportunity to generate value through new talent and technologies, execute strategies suited to a more complex geopolitical environment and build competitiveness and confidence through what we see as a new model for sustained growth.
US competitiveness over the past 25 years and the past 250 years has celebrated milestones from the transcontinental railroad and the beginning of modern supply chains to advanced smartphones yielding a computer in every pocket and the transformation AI will bring. The data and experience underpinning these highlights point to a consistent conclusion:
The US economy has outperformed global peers in growth, investment and capital formation.
Over the past 25 years, the US has outpaced the G7 in growth, remained the leading destination for foreign direct investment and, as of 2025, accounted for over sixty percent of global venture capital1. Together, these strengths have helped organizations adapt and evolve in domestic and global markets.
These underpinnings will continue to shape the future license to grow in the next 25 and 250 years, requiring executives and boards to consider the following questions:
The US at 250 milestone is a testament to seizing opportunity and creating value driven by organizations, capital and talent. Building for the future will require tenacity, discipline and innovation — areas our teams are fortunate to work with and support clients every day.
Mitch Berlin
EY Americas Vice Chair, EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young LLP
Each underpinning will inevitably face both enablers and constraints, creating a dynamic domestic and global marketplace. In this environment, future corporate competitiveness will be defined not only by absolute strengths, but also by how effectively organizations turn national enablers into new advantages, shape them over time and manage the constraints that accompany them.
Positioning operating models and brands for an evolving global environment will better align firms with ever increasing need to foster and sustain enterprise resilience. Companies that successfully harness this complex mandate across national sources of competitiveness — while earning and sustaining their license to grow — will be those that define the next era of American competitiveness.
With a competitiveness framework in place, our exploration identified three business imperatives for moving from a license to operate to a license to grow: innovation, resilience and a growth strategy designed for a world shaped by new geopolitical realities. Importantly, as explored in the EY-Parthenon 2026 Geostrategic Outlook, these imperatives reflect the fact that an environment governed by new rules and norms requires far more than capital and an operating plan. Succeeding in that environment also depends on building trust and acceptance across a broader set of stakeholders and responding to the forces increasingly shaped by them.
The interlocking of these business imperatives will likely be a precondition for future value at scale. It’s critical that they drive discussions at the executive and board level as the defining features of a doctrine for growth during and through this and future points.
Innovation will likely remain a critical lever of growth skill sets, toolkits and mindsets across all levels of work. It’s crucial that new talent strategies reimagine work at all levels, with education as a core enabler to support innovation relevance rather than innovation volume. The opportunity and challenge are clearly outlined in the recent EY-Parthenon Growth Survey, which reveals an expectation versus reality gap in growth derived from AI innovation. While 78% of US executive respondents say that they expect that AI will accelerate growth, only 34% or less say they trust AI to support decision-making in growth-related areas. Tomorrow’s innovation paradigm will require thinking inside and outside the box — areas where leading tools like neurosymbolic AI can spot future growth avenues with the ability to scale them from endowments firms already hold.
A US at 250 imperative: What is the right talent and innovation strategy to leverage new investments in the US?
A non-linear, accelerated, volatile and interconnected (NAVI) world requires risk operating models to shift and adapt to the structural change. The data reinforces the urgency: 61% of CEOs anticipate higher operating costs in 2026, and the growth survey identified risk and compliance challenges as the top factor preventing US firms from innovating faster than competitors — ahead of talent gaps or market conditions. Yet, the most confident organizations are already acting: 83% of CEOs surveyed have adapted their strategic investments in response to geopolitics and trade policy shifts in the past 12 months, with 40% accelerating investment rather than pulling back.
Future realities will likely demand strategy-first approaches with new forms of governance and agility. The EY-Parthenon Growth Survey found that the top factor preventing US firms from innovating faster than competitors is risk and compliance challenges, while a quarter of respondents say a lack of internal agility is holding back competitive performance. Confident organizations will likely treat resilience investments as option-creating assets rather than simply as risk costs. They can build this resilience organically and through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), using transactions to drive transformation and strengthen resilience, not just to gain scale.
A US at 250 imperative: What operating model will help organizations to adapt to an evolving global economy?
Finding sources of growth will likely remain a top agenda priority, though less attainable for those stuck in the past — either from a mindset, skill set or toolkit perspective noted above. Competitiveness to achieve it will probably require business re-invention and AI- and tech-led enterprises that also embody a culture and characteristics of sustainable value. An era of changing rules and norms and competing regulatory agendas will likely surface new opportunities and challenges, as industrial policy, technology and infrastructure build-outs and new foreign policy relations emerge.
This new growth strategy will likely be more selective and built around scenarios that reinforce host-market priorities while supporting transformation and resilience for the enterprise. Recent data from the EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook underscores this shift: 85% of US respondents say that, in this milestone year, disciplined growth and a clear path to profitability matter more than rapid market expansion.
A US at 250 imperative: How should capital be allocated to create value and drive growth?
The future growth playbook should define and treat the license to grow as a cross-functional strategic asset. A geopolitical risk outlook, trade forecast or financial plan built around multiple macro scenarios are necessary inputs, but they’re not sufficient on their own. This license should be grounded in national and organizational sources of competitiveness, mapped to operating models, investments, technologies and talent. Executives who understand the trade-offs across these factors will be best positioned to shape their next playbook with both confidence and competitiveness. Those who sustain credibility and trust with governments, markets and society will also be likely to be more resilient in an uncertain world.
At 250 years, the US and its enterprises confront a more competitive world and another chapter of renewal. For US-based and US-anchored companies, the strategic question is not whether opportunity exists, but how to pursue growth with confidence and competitiveness in an increasingly demanding and uncertain global environment.
Those that successfully convert national enablers into durable advantage — while earning and sustaining their license to grow — will most likely define the next era of competitiveness both at home and abroad.
At America at 250, our EY-Parthenon team examines the enduring sources of US competitiveness and what they mean for business leaders navigating a more complex global environment. The central argument is that organizations that convert national strengths into strategic advantage while earning the trust of a broader set of stakeholders will be best positioned to lead the next era of globalization.
