Nugent

In his two-part article, 'The political economy of the global sports industry' (Sunday Gleaner, September 6 and 20), Trevor A. Campbell provided a cohesive conceptual framework for examining how sports is organised in today's global economy, and the specific role of Jamaica in the global supply chain. What he essentially demonstrated was that sports, and its organisation, cannot be isolated from the process of contemporary capitalist production, with all of the consequences arising from therefrom.

The supply chain in the sports industry covers the full gamut of activities, from the production of the tools that sustain the sport industry infrastructure to the marketing, advertising, and sale of commodities that are orchestrated via the modern global digital media. That has to be the starting point for any design of a strategy to capture value from the global value chain.

Brand Jamaica

Let us look closely at this business of branding and the excitement around Brand Jamaica which seems to have gained mystical proportions in the media following on the successful performance of the Jamaican track and field athletes at Beijing Olympics, and more recently at Berlin World Championships. There is somehow this idea that Brand Jamaica embodies a kind of mystique wherein anything Jamaican will be sold on the global market. And true enough, there is such a thing as brand excellence which is built up in a particular country or region of the world, based on experience and proven utility in the marketplace. Swiss watches held sway and commanded a stellar reputation in the world market for a long period of time. However, the advent of the digital revolution, and its impact on the practice of time-keeping, has been largely responsible for the decline of the Swiss brand. Today, only luxury watches command any significant branding status in the marketplace.

The point being made here is that there is a material basis for the popularity or reputation held by certain commodities in the marketplace; it is not due to some kind of magic. Jamaica is renowned in the global marketplace for several agro-products, its natural beauty, as well as its hospitable people. There has been much discussion in the press regarding how the heightened prestige of Jamaica that has been created by the unprecedented performance of the track and field athletes, can be leveraged to market the country.

tourism promotion

However, there seems to be no clear sense of how to proceed. Much of this discussion has been about building on this reputation as a global track and field power to spur tourism. By elevating the position of Jamaica on the global map, the athletes have far surpassed the work of the tourism promotional agencies - public and private combined - many times over. The athletes have proven once again the existence of Jamaica's latent talent pool in track and field that needs nurturing. This translates into a systematic effort to develop an infrastructure to support the track and field programme that will enable the blooming of the emerging athletic talents that are in the pipeline.

Public display as opposed to real investment

How does the Government go about investing in the Brand Jamaica that has been strengthened by the world-class display of its track and field athletes? Apart from isolated projects done on an ad hoc basis, I have not heard of any serious programme dedicated to improving the communities where these world-class athletes grew up. How does one explain this passion for ceremonies and public display, the squandering of scare resources - both time and money - when the very communities that nurtured these world-class athletes remain in shambles, many without basic infrastructure such as good roads and water supply system? The print media report for instance, that, the Sherwood Content community where Usain Bolt grew up has no reliable water supply system, and the roads are poor. I am sure that this story can be recounted over and over again. Such is the paradox in a country where there is all this talk of Brand Jamaica, but no investment in what really matters.

Against all odds, the young Jamaican athletes have once again demonstrated their discipline, determination and hard work to accomplish feats that have stunned the entire world. Despite their circumstances they prevailed in a fashion that is disproportionate to the resources that were made available to them. So, with all this talk and intoxication with ideas about Brand Jamaica the leadership misses the point. Just imagine the inspiration to future young athletes that could come from a determined investment effort in the communities where these athletes have been raised. This is what building Brand Jamaica is all about!

A TERRIBLE PATTERN

There is a terrible pattern in the society - the stifling or indiffe-rence to the creativity and latent talent of the poorest sections of the society. We saw this before with the emerging reggae artistes in the late '60s and throughout the '70s. Reggae music was first allowed to be played on JBC FM radio only in 1979, or sometime thereabout, thanks to the pioneering efforts of the late Mickey Dread, who produced 'Dread at The Controls', an exclusively reggae music programme that ran on midnight Saturdays to Sundays at 6 a.m.

Reggae has been an inspirational force and a popular vehicle, which has made an impact on the world, and in that process has propelled Jamaica into the visual space of the global tourism market. But the folks that created this art form were drawn from the poorest social sections of the society - from both urban and rural settings. They were the marginalised and were portrayed as outcasts, and were shunned during the period of emergence of reggae as an art form. But reggae, with its creative force emanating from the poorest sections of the urban working class in the Jamaican society played a big role in propelling the country to 'brand status' in the global market place.

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

In the final analysis, the Government should focus on addressing sports development efforts by designing a serious track and field training and development programme. This could then establish the country as a centre for world-class training and development, which is where the window of opportunity for the country lies today in the global supply chain.

As Campbell, pointed out in the second part of his contribution, "The only thing of any significance that the Caribbean supplies to the global sports industry is the labour-power of its athletes in the following sectors - track and field, cricket, and soccer. The Spanish-speaking Caribbean, particularly the Dominican Republic (and to a lesser extent Puerto Rico) is a major supplier of labour power to the professional baseball leagues in North America." The track and field training and development programme would then form the basis for a sports medicine and health care programme (that incorporates the most advanced methods in the industry), which could then serve as platform for a research and development effort.

The challenge here is how to migrate upstream along the global sports industry supply chain. Moving upstream requires a serious commitment to the process of building a globally competitive platform that mobilises communities, and integrates them into the production of the 'country's' athletes. The Government's role must be focussed on getting done what goes into the development of athletic talent - building basic community infrastructure, not conducting ceremonies.

Reginald Nugent is a business consultant and economist, and is the founder of Petras Green Solutions, LLC, a Maryland, limited liability company that is dedicated to the implementation of sustainable energy in communities globally. He can be reached at reggienugent@gmail.com.