A model for the Philippines

(How Fortune 500 firms do it)

The Economist on July 30th writing about Spain says: “. . . aversion to tough decisions risks prolonging the slump.” We’re not alone in using kid gloves: We share this with the Spaniards and other countries especially developing ones, and in both the public and private sector. In the private sector though the market is harsher – many of them had to pay the price and gone under. Countries don’t go away but they do create massive poverty. And once it sets in the country is left with fewer and fewer options as the trees appear bigger and mistaken for the forest. Unfortunately, it is a slippery slope – a race to the bottom, the country gets worse not better, and so the poor get poorer.

The government, the private sector and the church being the largest institutions need to come together to address the challenge – and turn our psyche away from politics to economic development; and yes, the church can play a critical role in moving the country forward. (See earlier article: http://phileconomy.blogspot.com/2009/07/fortune-500-model-for-development.html )

Using the Fortune 500 model, when these institutions come together, they have no preconceived biases – they are into a brain storming, problem-solving endeavor, i.e., we were just driven out of Eden. (Did the WB get a cold shoulder from a NEDA person re integrated planning – yes, we know it all?) The object is to: (a) drive revenues – say, raise GDP by $100 B to match Thailand (benchmark) and reduce poverty (goal) by half, order of magnitude, (b) commit to a balanced-budget – the government and the Church will be guided by the principles of the 10 Commandments and the Two Great Commandments, i.e., not rewrite the Bible, which in secular terms is the Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 rule (and in marketing parlance, they are the product concept and positioning statement), and (c) seek efficiency – so that institutions optimize their operations (become effective/achieve their aims while raising revenue and reducing costs, e.g., the Archbishop of New York is a master at balancing the budget; see how a Filipino priest does it: http://phileconomy.blogspot.com/2009/05/economics-101-as-practiced-by-priest.html); with the private sector becoming competitive globally.

Before the session each institution does their homework – starting with every agency, industry and archdiocese; with the respective output synthesized as the process moves up, say, to a council level. They will be represented by the least number of people – part of their homework is to agree on their representatives. Limiting each institution to 4 representatives will be ideal – or a total of 12, modeled after the Apostles or corporate boards. (This is not the time for ego trips – this is what patriotism is about, not preserving turf/local interests . . . or hollow shouts of nationalism.)

They will come out with a zillion ideas and so they will reduce them to what equates to the country’s equivalent of: (a) the 10 Commandments and (b) the Two Great Commandments – to achieve the above revenue, budget and efficiency goals. (We have a huge shortfall in GDP; and the $17 B in OFW remittances and the local economy alone will not reduce poverty. Nor will protectionism, debt default or socialism – because they don’t address our fundamental issue: a humongous revenue/GDP shortfall . . . and incremental thinking will not lift us up.)

They will similarly create an ethics version of the above commandments and an implementing process that is simple. The key is to get corruption and bribery out of the system.

The guiding principles of all the above (and at execution time) will be: (a) simplicity, (b) clarity and (c) leadership. (A simple “how-to” guide would have been prepared to facilitate each step of the process, from the ground up, with facilitators trained to ensure efficiency . . . Of course Rome was not built in a day!)

That means brainstorming to generate the best ideas, translating them into simple terms, and sharpened for clarity – to facilitate execution; with leadership exercised effectively so that even while brainstorming (and during execution) there is efficiency. Leadership especially in a complex environment is a must – where barriers would appear insurmountable. But the exercise will sharpen execution – including focus on strategic investments, R&D, enabling legislations and shared leadership with a big dose coming from the Church, among other things.