I WAS privileged to be invited to the first annual meeting of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Council (GFCC), hosted by the US Council on Competitiveness, in Washington DC last December 9-10.

The National Competitiveness Council, which I co-chair with Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo in a public-private partnership model, was admitted as a full-pledged member of the GFCC network.

The federation is the first international organization to focus on economic growth through the lens of competitive policy. The network is initially composed of 25 countries, which are all building their knowledge about what makes their enterprises competitive in the light of the global economy.

It aims to identify relevant metrics that are keys to successful enterprises. The network also recognizes the urgent need to identify the relevant metrics responsible in building an environment for competitive enterprises (big or small) in a global economy.

New benchmark

The new framework of competitiveness benchmark will be developed from surveys of the various stakeholders to be conducted by Deloitte and Korea with the help of some universities.

The approach is based on the principle that it is “the firms that compete; countries do not, but only provides the enabling environment.”

It is inspiring to meet the network of global leaders with creative and dynamic approaches toward their national prosperity and the prosperity of the world. Lessons can be learned from these leaders on strengthening the factors of competitiveness, fostering innovation to stimulate growth.

Our National Competitiveness Council (NCC) may not yet have the same stature as those in the more developed or more centrally driven countries. But the dynamic inter-phases between the government and the private sector at the NCC, which is reinforced by the new government leadership with increased credibility, must have been noted by the practitioners in the field of competitiveness.

We have more than a hundred business leaders volunteering as “champions” of as many projects and study groups from the 18 chambers that constitute the private side of NCC.

Improvements

We have seen some improvements lately in the three parameters used by the Millennium Challenge Corp.—“ruling jointly, economic freedom and investing in people.”

Our financial standards are considered good by the Financial Executives Foundation of New York, and OECD sees corporate governance in the country moving forward. But more needs to be done to provide the conducive environment for enterprises to become competitive.

A more robust approach to support investors who may be encountering difficulties had been proposed by the ADB.

The GFCC network is composed of the competitiveness councils from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.

Guiding principles

The following are the 10 Principles of Global Competitiveness that we helped develop in Washington DC:

1.) Significant private sector involvement—such as through the creation of competitiveness councils—is critical in developing national public policy initiatives.

2. As the driving force of innovation, greater investment in research and development and the deployment thereof, will stimulate productivity.

3.) 21st century workforce skill should be the baseline for every citizen to reach their full potential.

4.) National competitiveness is dependent on the success of a nation’s regions and metropolitan areas ... its LGUs.

5.) Strong intellectual property rights are a prerequisite to attract high-value investment and innovation.

6.) A modern, well maintained infrastructure—be it transportation, energy, information technology networks or communications—is critical to encourage investment.

7.) Open, transparent and fair trade is necessary to expand global trade and investment.

8.) Sustainable innovation through improved natural resource productivity will give rise to new industries and higher-value economic growth.

9.) Transparency, efficiency and smart regulation in government provide a more stable environment for business thereby increasing economic growth.

10.) Benchmarking national competitiveness across a set of established and forward-looking metrics-measuring both inputs—such as education, research and development spending, patents and outputs such as job creation, new industries and products, GDP growth and quality of life—is necessary to drive the implementation of competitiveness policies.

Collective action

It will be noted that most of these principles are already being implemented in the Philippines for the past year or two, especially when we worked with the Millenium Challenge Corp. which encouraged various business groups to present a united voice for improved competitiveness and better governance to increase job/livelihood creation if we are to bridge the employment gap and halve poverty in this country.

It is the expectation that by sharing experiences and collectively addressing key competitiveness obstacles, the above principles can take roots in the minds of our stakeholders for the benefit of the prosperity for all.

Due to the high quality of its members from both the public and the private sectors, the council must remain anticipatory and have cutting-edge expertise in technologies, finance, education, trade and economic development.

By Cesar B. Bautista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:08:00 02/06/2011
(The author is co-chairman of the National Competitive Council.)

original source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20110206-318870/Natio...