Thursday, October 22 2009

Trinidad and Tobago has moved up six places from 92 to 86 on The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, but what exactly does this mean?

“Trinidad and Tobago was ranked 86th out of 133 nations, whiich is not that progressive”, said Professor Rolph Balgobin as he addressed participants of “The Ideas Forum seminar” at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business.

Speaking on the topic “The World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report – A Global Perspective,” Balgobin suggested the figures imply that we are becoming innovative-driven, but innovation must be central if the country is to be progressive.

He further explained that for a country to enter into innovation-driven space, competition must happen at the level of the firm. “Countries don’t compete, firms do so when we talk about an innovation driven country, we talk about a country that is producing innovation-driven firms,” he said.

Balgobin then cited hindrances to the country’s innovation process as highlighted by business owners over the last five years: crime, poor work ethics, corruption, bureaucracy and inflation.

“The only way to attain developed country status is to be able to sustainably pay for development,” he said, adding, “the macro-economic factors look good when juxtaposed against certain factors — but once those bubbles are punctured, we don’t look so good”.

Professor Miguel Carrillo, executive director of the Lok Jack GSB examined the sustainable competencies of countries from a Latin American (Latam) perspective.

He said that too much emphasis is placed on SME development when the development of a country depends on larger firms.

“The problem is that we have SMEs that are not growing, they employ people in the wholesale and retail trade with half of them in the retail sector. Why? Because it’s easy,” he said.

Delving further, Carrillo suggested that the big obstacle for SMEs all over the world is financing, saying, “the firms that starve the most for resources are the ones that have the least access to it.”

In concluding his analysis, Carrillo cited the collaboration between the public and private sectors as critical to development. “Change requires stability; institutions are the pillars that provide the stability for efficiency and innovation.”

He also indicated that the development of knowledge-based products was also critical to a country’s development.

“We have to move away from a commodity business to a knowledge-based business,” he said.