Hilary Robertson-Hickling
THE WORLD CUP, 'The Greatest Show on Earth', signals many of the challenges of doing business in the world today. A country must assemble a team with the best talent available; the players, the coaches and all of the other resources needed must be employed. This allows new countries to breakthrough the old barriers which allowed the Europeans to dominate the sport. Hence, Ghana and South Korea have broken through the mental glass ceilings to defeat the old kings.
We owe the Soca Warriors of Trinidad and Tobago a debt of gratitude to have taken us in the Caribbean to the world stage. They have run the next leg of the relay that Jamaica started in 1998 when it qualified. We also need to congratulate Referee Prendergast who should feel proud in spite of the injury which caused him to withdraw. With discipline and perseverance we can excel at the highest levels. Germany has been able to host this extravaganza in spite of the small group of neo-Nazis who were threatening to promote their racist behaviour and hurt visiting people of colour. Tolerance, fairplay and good clean competition should be the aim of all concerned.
The lessons learned should be employed today in a business environment in which unethical practices at Enron, and Parmalat as well as some of our own corporate giants in Jamaica are causing the need for the serious review of the issues of corporate governance. At this time when there is a worldwide shortage of jobs, which the private sector is increasingly expected to provide as the public sector is shrinking, we seem to need to look at the rules and practices of business. Fat cat scandals, money laundering and other practices foster a high degree of cynicism in citizens of countries in the developed and developing world.
Doing business in Jamaica continues to be quite a challenge according to the findings of a recent World Bank research project. Although there have been notable improvements in a number of the areas studied, there are some critical issues still to be addressed, including the inordinate delays in the processing of documentation. This comes at a time when the private sector is expected to help to provide the jobs which are so desperately needed to reduce unemployment in the country.
RAISING PERFORMANCE LEVELS
There is a paradoxical situation where some of the persons employed to the Government take their jobs for granted and do as little work as possible. There is need to raise the levels of performance in both the public and private sectors as our current levels of productivity are not competitive. In the case of our ackees in the agro-industrial sector, we need to ensure that the 20 factories have access to an appropriate workforce, quality control and adequate supplies to ensure that export can be restarted and that our competitors do not overwhelm us. Our players in business, as in sport, must be fit, strategic and able to beat the competition. The media provide an exciting opportunity for us to recognise that all the world may not only be a stage but also a playing field. We need to ensure that the playing field is level and we just might win.
Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies, UWI, Mona.
