45th Workshop Meeting of Heads of NPOs
15–17 February 2005, New Delhi, India
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to all delegates, advisers, and observers to the 45th Workshop Meeting of Heads of NPOs (WSM) organized in New Delhi, India. On behalf of the Asian Productivity Organization, let me express my sincere gratitude to the Government of India for its generous support and cooperation in hosting this important meeting. I would also like to commend the National Productivity Council of India, in particular Mrs. Sunila Basant, IAS, Director General and her able staff, for the excellent coordination and arrangements made for this gathering.
First of all, I wish to express, on behalf of member countries and on behalf of the Secretariat, our heartfelt sympathy to the countries that have been affected by the sudden and unprecedented tsunami that swept ashore in our member countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. What happened on 26 December 2004 was so brutal, so quick, and so far-reaching that we are still struggling to comprehend the magnitude of this historical catastrophe. We grieve for the dead and pray for those still searching for loved ones. As a regional organization promoting productivity, we know that we have limited resources to respond to their immediate needs but we hope that we can support, in one form or another, those affected countries and people within the framework of the APO.
This is my first attendance at this annual WSM since I assumed the office of APO Secretary-General in September 2004. During my 40-year diplomatic career, I have had the opportunity not only to serve in some member countries but also to visit a number of countries in the Asian region. I hope that the understanding and experience I have gained over the years will be helpful in discharging my new duties and responsibilities. The APO has a remarkable record in making invaluable contributions to the socioeconomic development of the region through the productivity movement, which have been greatly appreciated by all its members. Let me assure you that I am committed to working closely with you to steer the movement in the right direction to establish a more prosperous society with dynamic, competitive national economies. In this, I would like to count on your kind support and valuable advice.
Before I joined the APO, I had limited knowledge about what the NPOs were and how they functioned. Last November I had the opportunity to take part in the annual Forum on Development of NPOs held in Fiji, where I met a number of NPO Heads and senior officers. I found the meeting enlightening and it helped me to understand NPOs and their linkages with the APO. The spirit of mutual cooperation was amply illustrated through the sharing and exchange of views and experiences among NPOs. The unique partnership thus demonstrated convinced me that this is the bedrock philosophy of the APO which we should continue to uphold as our intangible but most valuable asset.
The Two-Year Plan, which will be presented in a subsequent session, has been designed taking into account the changing needs and aspirations of member countries. Let me present the salient features of our activities highlighting, among others, the current thrust areas including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), knowledge management (KM), green productivity (GP), integrated community development (ICD), and development of NPOs (DON).
Program Activities
Small and Medium Enterprises
The survival of SMEs through the enhancement of their productivity, competitiveness, and business acumen formed the three key areas of engagement in the APO's thrust area of "Strengthening of SMEs." Through study meetings, symposia, workshops, observational studies, and training activities, the projects implemented examined new ideas, tools, and innovations to improve their performance. The specific topics covered included supply chain management, interfirm strategies for cooperative R&D and technology fusion, and venture business matchmaking.
Given their continued dominant presence and the heightened expectations that SMEs will function as the main engines of economic and business growth in member countries, the APO will continue to take initiatives to enable them to meet the challenges of the global marketplace. Future activities will focus on identifying practical strategies to improve the skills, know-how, and innovativeness of SME entrepreneurs; examining new management approaches; establishing benchmarks and best practices among Asian SMEs; and enhancing prospects for business opportunities through alliances and matchmaking among them. To increase cost-effectiveness, future projects are being organized in collaboration with like-minded partners comprising regional organizations such as the ASEAN Foundation, provincial administrations such as the Osaka prefectural government in Japan, and business corporations. Furthermore, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the APO and UN Volunteers last year, under which the first SME management advisor was assigned to the NPO Pakistan for seven months. In addition, with improvements in the e-facilities within the Secretariat as well as in member countries, more e-based SME-focused projects will be launched in coming years.
Knowledge Management
Following previous attempts to familiarize member countries with the concept of KM, projects under this APO thrust area are designed to realize the three-pronged objective of: 1) deploying and expanding KM applications throughout the industrial and service sectors; 2) increasing confidence in KM implementation by accumulating success stories; and 3) disseminating and replicating the KM concept through demonstration projects and showcases. Of particular importance during these endeavors is the building up of core KM competencies within the NPOs. This will hopefully enable them to be in a position to champion the KM concept as member countries make the transition to the knowledge-based economy.
Future undertakings under this thrust area will continue with the same three-pronged objective while taking into account the different absorptive capacities and rate of progress in each member country. Concurrently, upcoming KM projects will examine the relevance and contribution of KM in the unique Asian setting, specifically in a non-IT environment, which remains a reality in many areas of member countries. Therefore forthcoming projects will aim to verify the rate of successful KM implementation by developing a KM measurement framework and methodology. National experts and KM practitioners from member countries will be invited to devise this common measurement framework by compiling cases and performing comparative analyses of experience in implementation. In turn, the KM measurement framework and methodology are expected to boost the NPOs' competence in the field further, thus enhancing their confidence in spearheading the dissemination of its concepts and practice in their respective countries.
Green Productivity
During 2004, which was designated the Year of Green Productivity, GP activities made inroads in new areas. As was reported to the GBM 2004, greening supply chains/green procurement and resource and waste management continued to be the two main focus areas of the GP Program. The most prominent event to commemorate the Year of Green Productivity was the Eco-products International Fair (EPIF) 2004 held in Kuala Lumpur in September 2004. It was organized by the APO in close collaboration with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, the GP Advisory Committee comprising representatives from Japanese business corporations, and the National Productivity Corporation, Malaysia. More than 70 exhibitors from the region and EU displayed their innovative eco-products at the EPIF, which was visited by some 12,000 persons during its three days. To mark the occasion, the APO published the Eco-products Directory 2004 covering more than 750 eco-products from Japan. An International Conference on Green Supply Chains and a Workshop on Green Procurement were also organized in Kuala Lumpur to support the main fair. Buoyed by the success of this mega-event, we are planning to implement the EPIF2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. In addition to the EPIF2004, we organized International Workshops on Greening Supply Chains and Eco-design, and GP and Green Purchasing in the Republic of China and Sendai, Japan, respectively.
We also addressed the issues of resource and waste management, primarily through GP demonstration projects and workshops, focusing on resource productivity, waste management and recycling, and value creation. These projects were conducted in the form of surveys, demonstrations, and Web site development. To step up our efforts to disseminate GP information, the Environment Department has recently updated its Web site. The new site is not only user friendly but also includes a wealth of new information and e-books for free downloads. I hope that the NPOs will make use of this important source of information. In addition, we have strengthened and expanded an effective framework of international collaboration with, among others, the United Nations Environment Programme, International Labour Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the University of Queensland, Australia. Both the US EPA and the University of Queensland and its partners plan to host an observational study mission for APO member countries on solid waste management and eco-tourism, respectively, during 2005.
In coming years, we will remain engaged in GP promotion and dissemination by developing new projects in our focus areas to help NPOs design new services and products for their clients. As in the past, I hope that NPOs will continue to give strong support to our GP Program.
Agriculture and Integrated Community Development
The agriculture and food sector continues to generate a substantial portion of national income and employment. Without the sound development of this sector, a nation's growth and social cohesion cannot be sustained. The agriculture sector continues to be an important part of the APO thrust areas of SMEs and GP but is being challenged by recent trends of globalization and environmental degradation. APO projects in 2004 therefore addressed the issues of small agro-industries, water resource management, use of ITC, and the sustainability of Asian rice-based society in recognition of the UN Year of Rice. We will amplify our activities in two major priority areas: first, strengthening the competitiveness of agriculture and agri-business through improved quality and safety of products and better marketing; and second, promoting sustainable development with environmentally friendly practices and advanced resource management. In addition, we would like to encourage closer relations between NPOs and agriculture-related authorities through the implementation of a newly initiated program targeting less developed countries.
The ICD Program attempts to achieve social fairness and alleviate poverty by applying kaizen-type approaches in local communities. A number of ICD facilitators have been trained in member countries to take the lead in productivity issues for rural community development. The future ICD Program will focus more on the application of productivity and management tools, like quality management for the One Village One Product movement, quality control circles for self-help group activities, and participatory problem-solving methods. Past achievements and follow-up mechanisms will also be consolidated to ensure the sustainability of the program and distribute its practical benefits more widely among people in rural communities.
Development of NPOs
Some years ago at a GBM, a minister of the host country cautioned us about the expanding productivity divide among Asian countries. While some member countries have achieved remarkable economic development to reach the level of advanced countries, others still lag behind. The APO has addressed the problems posed by this reality and intensified assistance to less advanced NPOs over the years. To step up our efforts to narrow the productivity divide, we should provide more effective assistance to them. Obviously this mission can only be achieved with the understanding and cooperation of advanced member countries, among others, that play a major role in transferring knowledge and experience to other members. In this regard, I like to emphasize a couple of points. First, we believe that the progress of the productivity movement in less developed countries can be realized only through the strong will and commitment to the movement on their own initiative. The NPOs should be recognized as the national apex bodies of the movement. Second, we would like to make the operational mechanism of the DON Program more flexible in the use of its budget to encourage advanced member countries to accommodate requests from less advanced member countries, particularly for building up NPOs' capabilities and core competencies in new areas.
Information and IT-related Activities
In the publication program, as a cost-saving measure, the number of printed titles was reduced from 15 in 2003 to seven in 2004, but replaced by e-books on the APO Web site. Eleven e-book titles were added during 2004, bringing the total to 25. The daily number of visitors to the APO Web site surpassed the 1,000 mark for the first time in October 2004. This is significant as we are positioning it as a major portal on productivity. The homepage was revamped; it is now more sophisticated, pleasing to the eye, and easier to use. We continued to improve, expand, and make more valuable the landmark publication APO Asia-Pacific Productivity Data and Analysis, adding 17 data indicators in the 2004 edition and an introduction to economic productivity and its measurement. APO Directors were invited to nominate candidates for the five-yearly APO Regional and National Awards to be conferred in 2005. The photo contest, third in the series, was reactivated.
IT activities were intensified through the three platforms of the intranet, extranet, and Internet. The APOnet is now well established and serving its purpose. e-Forum, a program to facilitate networking among former APO participants, is fully functional, with more than 20 active discussion groups. A pilot Internet-based e-learning portal was established to host e-learning activities. Six were organized last year, and we plan to develop e-learning courses: one on productivity; and the other on total quality management. The APO is also using other portals, and three distance-learning projects were organized last year in collaboration with the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC), a World Bank Global Development Learning Network partner. This collaboration with the TDLC-World Bank will continue.
Follow-up to GBM 2004 Directives
The last GBM held in Indonesia in June 2004 dealt with a host of policies and strategies that have an important bearing on the sustainable development of the APO and gave its mandate to this august body to examine several major issues and report its conclusions and recommendations to the next GBM. Let me share with you some thoughts on them in light of current circumstances.
Financial Status
As you are aware, the APO's financial position is not as solid as before. An accumulated unappropriated surplus has been sharply reduced by providing additional services to member countries over the past few years. A dramatic decline in special cash grants and delays in the payment of membership contributions by some member countries have further aggravated our financial position. This has made it imperative to scale down expenditures to match revenues, which now consist mostly of membership contributions. Under the circumstances, we have revised the APO Program and Financial Estimates for 2005 submitted to the previous GBM slightly downward. Likewise, those for 2006 needed to undergo downward adjustment. In doing so, increasing the cost-effectiveness of our project and administrative operations, which attracted considerable attention among delegates to the previous WSM and GBM, is uppermost in our minds.
Cost-effectiveness needs to be considered both in the short and long terms. Actions we propose to take for achieving short-term results start with a voluntary three percent salary reduction of the Secretariat staff. Needless to say, it was not an easy decision by the Secretariat staff to make such a proposal. Nonetheless, they felt that it was imperative to curb administrative expenses so that a reasonable balance could be maintained between the operational and administrative expenditures. A gradual downgrading of the class of air travel by Secretariat staff and other cost-cutting are also being considered to produce short-term results.
As for the mid- and long-term measures, we are keeping all options under critical review. For operational improvement, we need to adopt a "selection and concentration" strategy so as to concentrate our limited resources on our major core competence, for which we need your guidance and advice during this meeting to translate this strategy into action programs. As for administrative efficiency, I think that it is premature to present specific proposals at this stage but hope that we can come up with specific ones, including Secretariat restructuring, that could generate a considerable impact on our future operations. We intend to have full consultations with member countries on this matter at the coming GBM.
Program Shift from Category A to Categories B and C
Requests put forward by member countries to shift our program focus from Category A to Categories B and C have important implications. First, it will better serve the specific needs and requirements of member counties. Second, it will lead to greater cost-effectiveness of projects by saving on airfare or increasing the number of local participants. Taking into account these aspects, the APO Fellowship and concurrent individual-country study missions were newly introduced in 2004. At the last GBM in Indonesia, however, comments were made that project allocation with the emphasis on Categories B and C was not satisfactory and needed further improvement. There was a suggestion that our target ratio should be somewhere around 40-40-20. Let me state where we will stand in relation to 2004 to 2007 program activities. In 2004, the ratio was 49-24-27. In 2005, it will be 41-30-29; in 2006, 44-29-27; and in 2007, 37-33-30. The shift to Categories B and C is thus evident, accompanied by a relative decline in Category-A projects. In close coordination with the NPOs, we will attempt to arrive at the desired mix of projects under these two categories, which is part and parcel of our mission to serve member countries better.
Designation of an Annual Theme
At the GBM 2004 in Indonesia, a proposal was made to focus APO activities on special annual themes to enhance the visibility of the organization and to secure greater support from all stakeholders in the productivity movement. The proposal was submitted to the GBM 2004, which approved it in principle and decided to select one theme for every two-year period. GP was chosen as the special theme for 2004 and 2005. Further, this WSM was directed to recommend an appropriate theme for 2006 and 2007 to the GBM in 2005. The highlight of the first biennial theme was the EPIF2004 in Malaysia. It was more successful than originally anticipated, due largely to the commitment of the host country and the active participation of business corporations including, among others, Japanese ones. The implications derived from this project are obvious. We need the strong support and commitment of member countries in observing the designated biennial event. Upon completion of the EPIF2005 in Thailand, we should evaluate the results of related activities during 2004 and 2005 to determine their impact on member countries and the degree to which they improved the visibility of the APO. We will then decide whether the biennial special event should be continued or not.
APO Organizational Excellence Award
Also at the GBM 2004 in Indonesia, a proposal was made to establish an APO Organizational Excellence Award to give recognition to organizations that have made remarkable achievements in productivity improvement; it was felt that this would also increase the APO's visibility. While the GBM 2004 approved it in principle, it directed the Secretariat to study this proposal, present a report to the WSM 2005, and submit a recommendation to the GBM 2005 for consideration. After consultations with APO Directors and NPO Heads, a couple of viewpoints emerged. First, the proposed APO Award could overlap with national quality or productivity awards already in place in a majority of member countries, not only competing with them but also adversely affecting their status. And second, to make the award truly authoritative, the APO would have to make considerable efforts and investment in, for example, the screening process. In short, many member countries suggested a cautious approach to institutionalizing a new APO Award.
At present, 14 member countries have institutionalized national quality awards, and this is one subject area in which they have shown keen interest. At this stage, however, I think that it is more practical for the APO to organize quality award-related projects on a regular basis so that member countries can refine their own systems and mechanisms by sharing their experiences. The APO Best Practice Network is one such example, and a mission sent to the USA last year to learn from Malcolm Baldrige Award-winning companies is another illustrating the significance of knowledge sharing. Whether the APO should establish a new award can be decided if and when member countries feel that it is in their interest to go forward with this initiative. I hope that delegates to this WSM will examine this issue keeping these views in mind before preparing recommendations to the next GBM.
External Evaluation
We started external evaluation in 1999, and several APO programs have so far been examined. We are now in the process of compiling and analyzing information collected from member countries in relation to agriculture projects. The modus operandi of the ongoing exercise includes questionnaire surveys over the Internet and by post as well as interviews conducted in selected member countries. As was clearly underscored by the delegates at the last WSM and GBM, the major focus is not on evaluation per se but on the extent to which APO projects were of practical use to participants at their workplace. The report of the present evaluation will be presented to the next GBM. In future, we plan to set up an evaluation system in a more organized manner so that APO activities can be continuously improved in all stages of the project cycle.
In Closing
In the age of globalization, more issues have become multinational, such as the flow of trade, capital, and information, environmental problems, and mobilization of human resources, and these can only be coped with effectively by concerted efforts across national borders. In this context, the APO must continue to strengthen and leverage its networks with organizations and agencies in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide. This will help create synergies that will improve access to new resources, new information, and new technology while at the same time making our vision and achievements known globally. The growth of the APO was based upon the sharing of resources from within and beyond Asia and the Pacific. Against this background, let me express my appreciation for the strong support and active cooperation extended by the International Labour Organization, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Environment Programme, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Volunteers, Asian Development Bank, ASEAN Foundation, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region, Colombo Plan Secretariat, UBIFRANCE, State of Hawaii, Regional Institute of Environmental Technology (Singapore), and Henley Management College, London. I look forward to the deepening of ties already entrenched over the years and welcome assistance and cooperation from other organizations in forming new working partnerships in the future.
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