Defense Industry Needs To Get Serious About Diversifying (From Forbes)

Mitt Romney’s election defeat signaled the defense industry has missed the last opportunity it had to avoid the kind of downturn that followed the end of the Vietnam War and the Cold War. When your main customer is a political system, who’s in power determines how business is likely to fare. In the case of the defense sector, the vector now seems firmly set for a softening in revenues, followed by returns. It’s not that Democrats are out to hurt the industry, just that they have other priorities and money is tight. So it is time for company executives to start thinking hard about options for diversifying away from defense, because right now the sector players who look best positioned for the future are those that have commercial lines. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.