Best Columns: U.S. appeal, Tiger’s apparel

Will China jobs come back?

With the falling dollar, rising wages in China, and an oil-fed spike in shipping costs, says Pete Engardio in BusinessWeek.com, “this would seem to be a good time for an American manufacturing renaissance.” But, even with macroeconomic headwinds at America’s back, it won’t come back overnight. Or cheaply. U.S. manufacturing has “withered in the era of globalization.” A lot of manufacturing expertise has moved to China, along with the jobs and infrastructure. But the U.S. is still the world’s top manufacturer, and consumer. With a little luck, and venture capital, the U.S. has “as good a chance as anyone” to win jobs in globalization’s next round.

Life without Tiger

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“Tiger Woods’ season-ending injury has some in the sports business world very, very worried,” says Darren Rovell in Slate. With Buick canceling a golf clinic and some tournament ticketholders demanding refunds, there’s a “mild panic” among the marketers of Tiger tie-ins. But unless your job is to try to get people “excited over Anthony Kim and Ryuji Imada,” it’s “time to take a deep breath, and maybe an Ambien.” Nike, whose golf business wouldn’t exist without Tiger, “will be the hardest hit” by his absence from the green. But even its losses “will be as small as a dimple on a golf ball.” And the idea that Gillette, Accenture, Electronic Arts, and Buick will be crippled? “Complete bunk.”