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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Competitiveness must start locally - AIM
The business competitiveness of a country in the global arena should start at the local level, Asian Institute of Management (AIM)’s business and management professor Jacinto Gavino said.
During AIM’s business competitiveness forum held at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel last week, he said competitiveness is gauged on a per industry level, not on a country level.
Gavino said if the private sector wants to improve the country’s competitiveness ratings as compared with those of other countries, industries must start the innovations.
In the same forum sponsored by AIM alumni association-Cebu chapter, AIM president Francis Estrada said the Philippines last year ranked 49th of 61 countries evaluated for their competitiveness; 52nd of 61 countries in terms of economic performance; 44th of 61 countries on business competency and 56th of 61 countries in terms of infrastructure.
He said the country needs to primarily improve the quality of basic education, especially in math, Science and English to move up in the ranking. Establishing the credibility of anti-corruption efforts and undertaking major capacity building on transparency are also needed for the country to be considered competitive.
Drastic
“We can’t be complacent. Business as usual is not acceptable anymore because the business environment—customers, competitors and context—is changing drastically,” Estrada said.
The drastic change in the global business environment is the reason why the Philippines should integrate with its neighbors in Southeast Asia through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Estrada said the economic prospect of the Asean region is bright.
“The Asean is seen to overcome the economies of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), which is composed of rich countries,” he said.
Foreign direct investments in the Asean region total $14 billion, while total gross domestic products among its member-countries last year reached $750 billion.
The Asean is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. (JBN)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 5, 2006 issue)
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