An article in Fortune (June 11, 2012) describes a plan proposed by Mark Kwamme to create Manufacturing hubs consisting of entire supply chains to compensate for higher labor costs. The goal is to reduce logistics costs and thus decrease overall costs. Whirlpool’s CEO agrees with this strategy as enabling US manufacturing competitiveness. Will supply chains consisting of the capability to make most of the components of a product be the key to become globally competitive in manufacturing ? Should Ohio invest state funds to enable such competitiveness ? Is there a positive externality to such supply chains that justifies state intervention ?