Micheline Maynard, a senior business correspondent for The New York Times, spoke yesterday at the Ross School of Business’s Blau Auditorium, discussing topics that ranged from foreign investment in Michigan’s economy to Radiohead.

Joined on stage by Business School Dean Robert J. Dolan, Maynard — an adjunct professor at the Business School and author of “The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies Are Remaking the American Dream,” — discussed how collaboration with foreign companies provides important opportunities, and suggested that the dreaded after-effects of the recession might actually be a good thing.

Maynard began the discussion by addressing the stigma often applied to foreign businesses’ moving into the United States. When asked about the negative aspect of increasing foreign investments in the nation, Maynard said the so-called “selling of the American economy” doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of control; in fact it has happened many times before.

“Look at American history," she said. "Foreign companies have been investing in the United States since the 1600s. If you look at the Jamestown Colony, if you look at the settlement of New England, and if you look at the railroads.”

Rather than putting American employees at a disadvantage, foreign companies investing in the U.S. provide new economic opportunities, according to Maynard.

“The average worker in manufacturing in a foreign company earns about $60,000 a year,” she said. “That’s about 20 percent more than the average worker at all (other) manufacturing companies in the United States.”

Maynard also said international companies setting up shop in the U.S. don’t usually pose a threat because they often form partnerships with American businesses. She cited Toyota’s joint venture with General Motors and India-based TaTa Coffee Ltd.’s recent purchase of New Jersey-based Eight O’ Clock Coffee as examples of this type of collaboration.

“This has been an opportunity for (American employees), rather than anything for them to be concerned about,” she said.

Maynard also discussed local issues facing Michigan, which she explored in her 2003 book, “The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip.” She said Michiganders need to rethink their economic perspectives in the wake of the recession, and think realistically about the state’s future.

“That mentality of, ‘it will all come back and be as great as ever,’ that’s probably not going to happen,” she said. “Barring some huge recovery of the American economy, we’re never going to get back to the level of car sales that we once did.”

Instead, Maynard — an Ann Arbor native — said Michigan should focus on leveraging its natural resources to create new economic possibilities, and cultivating the level of talent the state has in certain sectors like engineering.

“The less we try to pretend that the old days will come back and the more we try to figure out what the future will be, the better it will be for the state,” she said.

The effects of the recession might actually be a positive change, both for the state and the nation as a whole, and can serve as a unique opportunity to recreate the American economy, Maynard said.

“After the Great Depression, we went to war,” she said. “Essentially we rebuilt our industrial complex to a military complex. After World War II, we looked inward and rebuilt America. This time I don’t think we can rebuild ourselves by looking inward or by choosing conflict as a way to rebuild.