Fairbanks motivates Jamaican private sector

MICHAEL FAIRBANKS, managing partner of Monitor Company, recently outlined the challenges which face Jamaica in achieving growth, competitiveness, increased productivity and social equity.

According to a release, he was speaking at the Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA) -hosted workshop on "Creating New Competitive Advantages for Jamaica", at Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston. The workshop focused on both firm level strategies and the tourism sector.

Mr. Fairbanks berated the country for focusing so much of its attention and energy on macro economic issues, neglecting to focus on supporting and facilitating development at the firm level. If this continued, he predicted, Jamaica would simply become poorer.

He outlined seven steps which need to be taken by Jamaican firms if they were to achieve true international competitiveness and to create a culture of innovation and increased productivity.

The steps are:

Not to build company competitive advantages on raw materials which are available in other parts of the world. Advantage should be built on innovation, technology, knowledge and productivity.

Companies should focus on customer needs, customer satisfaction and customer value, rather than on demographics and other general information about the customer. What experience do they want from the firm?

Jamaican companies must seek to better understand their competition, and what their assumption are about Jamaican firms.

We need to build clusters of competitiveness, encouraging the establishment of related industries and services to complement innovation and productivity.

Cut out the middle-man by forward integration. In other words, dis-intermediate. This is even more necessary as we move towards a more virtual business climate.

Jamaicans need to build trust between all players in the society. Between public and private sector, between workers and management, between all entrepreneurs, so that we develop a shared vision of growth, wealth creation and social equity. We are too defensive as a nation.

Don't "parentalize". There were vestiges of colonialism in the attitude of blaming the Government instead of oneself.

Mr. Fairbanks said that Jamaica needed to face up to the fact that nobody owed the country anything in the real world.

The release said that the JEA and several private sector leaders have agreed to continue the dialogue with Mr. Fairbanks and his team towards developing a sustainable competitiveness strategy for Jamaica's firms.

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