It appears the new Aquino Administration is keen to be coherent, focused and transparent? Could they be pulling together an economic program – with a bias for aggressive sourcing and targeted investments – that will be clear, simple and execution-biased? Could the new communications team be part of the efforts such that the different agencies seem to be singing from the same hymnal when speaking to the media? And thus the private sector – represented by the PCCI – seems predisposed to support the Administration’s direction?
It is not surprising that reactions from the broader media and the public are mixed – because the SONA was not a presentation of a fleshed-up agenda, and thus underwhelming? Could Aquino be under-promising and then work to over-deliver? And to respond to people’s impatience they’re talking of delivering a few quick hits and wins? Are both elements straight out of a ‘managing-change playbook’?
If indeed the above would characterize the new Administration, they deserve a BRAVO? It is not about perfection but the pursuit of success? And success can be narrowly defined (not by some growth rate but) as substantially raising our GDP such that the net GDP per person would appreciably rise – and conversely reduce poverty?
Absent perfection mistakes are bound to happen? And that’s reality – or why mortals could be saints? For instance, poverty will not be eradicated as the experience of the US demonstrated? But substantially raising investment levels like Thailand and Vietnam have done yielded lower poverty? And down the road more targeted efforts could be initiated for the purpose – i.e., continuous improvement or why marketers come up with new products all the time, for example! In short, dynamism is key; it must not cease! Which brings the point raised by the private sector to the DTI secretary: what about manufacturing?
Clearly we have yet to demonstrate competitive advantage in manufacturing but it is foolhardy to picture an industrialized nation without a manufacturing capability, given its many facets and greater impact on economic output? The US is pointed as a model – we’re not the US and can’t duplicate the extent of their advances in technology and in the service sector, e.g., financial services? And the US exports a trillion dollars annually – from nuts and bolts to aerospace products and lots more between them. So any inference that the US is not a manufacturing powerhouse is a fallacy? Of course, low-value, low-priced consumer goods have moved to China and other low-cost manufacturing locations; but they don’t equate to a US weakness in manufacturing, but rather the reality of a global economy – water seeks its own level? Net, the US has to keep developing higher valued-added products? But they’re big boys and girls and can fend for themselves?
It is encouraging that electronics still appears to be in the industry-mix of the Aquino Administration. The linear argument against it is we don’t have a competitive advantage in electronics; and semiconductors don’t generate sufficient multiplier effect to generate major employment. But that is because our electronics industry is at the bottom rung – i.e., assembly – of the value chain! And to move up the ladder we must consciously and doggedly work and partner with global players? We can’t build it from the ground up, not in the foreseeable future? For example, the writer’s Eastern European friends were able to move across 3 new business units by tapping state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies from the West; and setting up an R&D unit patterned after, and run by a talent from, the West – i.e., focused on commercialization, higher value-added thus competitive products. Lateral problem-solving says: grab what the global economy has to offer and not be helpless victims?
The bottom line: The Aquino Administration appears to be on the right track . . . and should keep on trucking! And that means once plans are ready they are presented to Juan de la Cruz; and then transparency becomes the mantra – who is doing what, when, where and how – so that Juan de la Cruz is kept updated. He is the boss as President Aquino said?
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