Canadian Politics
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Innovation in Industry: Canada's Branch Plant Mentality
In the 70's I worked as a plant chemist in a large US multinational chemical company in Canada. During those years I observed a consistent phenomena. I call it “Branch Plant Mentality”. If a production or environmental problem arose, the automatic response was to contact one of our technical centres in the US to solve the problem. The individual thinking seemed to be: If the US tech centre solves the problem I get credit for directing the problem to them and having it solved. If I try to tackle the problem on my own, and I fail, I get fried. If the US tech centre cannot solve the problem, with all the resources they have on hand, how do you expect poor little me to solve it? My ass is covered. I saw this play out countless times. The major problem with this attitude is that solutions to the problem and business benefits, including patents derived from the solution, remain the property of the multinational and do not benefit Canada.
In the 80's and 90's I worked as an environmental consultant in industrial plants across much of the country. To my surprise I saw the same “Branch Plant Mentality” in all manner of industrial plants, which in Canada at that time at least, were almost exclusively American, British or French subsidiaries.
It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. If Canada's innovation problems are to be solved, the “Branch Plant Mentality”, which I believe still predominates in Canada today, must be addressed.
Old topics from 2019: