42nd WORKSHOP MEETING OF HEADS OF NPOs
19-21 February 2002, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Statement of APO Secretary-General Mr. Takashi Tajima
Mr.
Dhawatchai Tangsanga, Executive Director of the Thailand
Productivity Institute,
Excellencies, Honored Guests,
Distinguished Delegates, Advisers, and Observers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a
very warm welcome to all delegates, advisers, and
observers to the 42nd Workshop Meeting of Heads of
NPOs organized in this beautiful and historical city
of Thailand. On behalf of the Asian Productivity Organization,
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the
Government of Thailand for its generous support and
cooperation in hosting this meeting. I would also
like to commend the Thailand Productivity Institute,
in particular, Mr. Dhawatchai and his able staff,
for the excellent coordination and arrangements made
for this meeting.
After entering the new century, our economy and society
have been changing at an accelerating pace. We need
to adapt and respond to these changes if we want to
achieve sustainable economic development. At this
Workshop Meeting, let me suggest that the three main
visions of APO activities be highlighted for intensive
discussion. They are competitiveness, the global environment,
and social fairness. First, the productivity movement
in the 21st century should be directed toward the
strengthening of competitiveness through creative
and innovative minds and skills of the people. Creativity,
innovative minds and people were also the main themes
of the International Productivity Conference (IPC)
which was held in Singapore last October as a highlight
to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Second, any activity
undertaken without paying due attention to the symbiosis
between environmental protection and economic development
would adversely affect a sustainable quality of life.
And third, the productivity movement in the new century
should contribute to promoting social fairness across
the board taking into account the reality that a severely
competitive society is likely to widen the gap between
the haves and the have-nots. Let me elaborate on these
topics in the light of our activities.
The growth of the world economy rests upon competitiveness
at the national, industry, and enterprise levels.
Competitiveness based on quality, speed, service,
and product differentiation is needed particularly
when a synchronized downturn in the global economy
occurred early last year. In both good and bad times,
how competitive firms are depends on their ability
constantly to take the most advantageous position
in the rapidly changing market. We should keep a firm
grip on the flow of global trade and investment, the
progress of technology development, and the influence
of new business models so as to seize all available
opportunities in making competitiveness a priority
on our productivity agenda.
In
the light of the increasing role of small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in national economies, the revitalization
of SMEs remains a primary area of concern for the
APO. Under a special grant from the Government of
Japan, the APO has implemented a number of SME-related
projects. Among them were the Forum on Venture Business
in Japan, the International Forum on SMEs in India,
and the Study Meeting on SMEs to Grow and Globalize
in Singapore. A common thread that ran through those
events was how SMEs have gained competitiveness and
productivity in local and global markets through technological
innovation and networking. Looking at the years ahead,
the APO will further step up efforts for its SME-focused
program.
The South-South Cooperation Program has been implemented
since 1995 to supplement the APO's efforts to enhance
the capabilities of key personnel in SMEs of South
Asian member countries with its current focus on supporting
industries. This program would not have been possible
without the positive contribution from Japan for financial
support and from advanced NPOs for project hosting.
The program was opened to other member countries since
last year to spread its benefits over a larger horizon.
As a further improvement, its scope of activities
will also be expanded beyond supporting industries
to cover other relevant fields.
Knowledge has now become the powerhouse for future
growth prospects of business organizations as it has
emerged as a leading source of advantage for them.
According to a study conducted by MIT and the Brookings
Institute, the ratio of visible and invisible assets
possessed by US firms listed on the stock exchange,
excluding those in the financial sector, was 31 to
69 percent in 1998. In 1978 the ratio was the reverse:
83 percent for visible to 17 for invisible assets.
Over the past years, the main source of profit generation
has shifted from money or capital to such invisible
assets as patents, know-how, ideas, and brand names,
or more broadly, the capability possessed by all workers.
The implications are obvious. Business corporations
should convert their organizations into knowledge
centers with a view to carving out new markets through
the creation of innovative products and services.
The sharing of this view among member countries at
the last Governing Body Meeting led us to designate
knowledge management as a new thrust area of APO activities.
In this regard, the APO has two major missions in
carrying out programs on knowledge management. A wide
dissemination of the concepts and methodology of knowledge
management based upon the experience accumulated among
knowledge firms is one, and the other is to strengthen
the capabilities of NPOs to promote knowledge management
in their respective countries.
The Green Productivity (GP) program has been making
substantial progress with increasingly active support
from NPOs. The GP activities in the year 2001 continued
that momentum and expanded in its scope and content.
One highlight of the last year's GP activities was
an intensive 5-week workshop on GP for trainers which
was implemented in Vietnam. A similar form of workshop
will start in Malaysia next week.
Apart from the workshop, the GP program has explored
many new avenues to expand the GP concept and its
wider application. Issues like occupational health
and safety, energy management, hazardous waste management,
life cycle assessment, eco-tourism, eco-design, and
B2B for eco-commerce were addressed throughout the
year.
To enhance GP activities further in the international
arena, the APO has continued its international collaboration.
A collaboration with the US Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) led to two workshops conducted in
the region on the themes of energy efficiency and
sustainable forestry management. Similar activities
will be continued in the year 2002 and beyond. The
Regional Institute of Environmental Technology (RIET),
Singapore, which is a partnership between the PSB,
Singapore and the European Commission, will also collaborate
with the APO in coming years for the promotion of
GP.
In advancing the productivity movement in the Internet
society and the borderless economy, we should bear
in mind the need to strike a balance between market
mechanisms and social fairness. While market mechanisms
have a decisive impact on economic progress, they
alone cannot achieve balanced socio-economic development.
Many member countries have wrestled with the consequences
of rapid economic changes such as growing income gaps,
persisting poverty, and increasing disparity of development
between urban and regional areas. The emerging "digital
divide" may also put at risk the benefits that
the Internet revolution has brought about. The shortfalls
associated with market mechanisms call for more attention
to social fairness, which could be realized through
the equitable sharing of the gains of productivity
increase and better employment opportunities. It is
also important to promote the participation of women,
not only in business but also in rural and agricultural
development. I firmly believe that the emphasis on
social fairness is an important manifestation of our
movement in the 21st century.
The Integrated Community Development (ICD) Program
has consolidated its activities into two major types.
One is the organization of international seminars
and training courses to foster a core cadre who are
expected to play a leading role in sustainable community
development. The other is the GP-ICD demonstration
program whereby the concepts and methodology of GP
are applied for community development at the grass-roots
level. From 2002 onward, the involvement of NPOs in
community development will be reinforced to place
more emphasis on the productivity and management aspects
of the program. I hope that NPOs will contribute more
actively to upgrading the quality of this program.
The NPOs should realign themselves as knowledge centers
to meet the requirements of the new knowledge-based
economy. Under the program relating to the Development
of NPOs (DON), the APO has broadened its activities
intended to forge partnerships and strategic alliances
between NPOs. I am pleased to report that one such
initiative was the APO Best Practice Network set up
among member countries last year. It will be useful
for NPOs to transfer knowledge on global best practices
to their customer organizations. The Forum on Development
of NPOs, an annual feature of APO activities, also
provides another opportunity for member countries
to exchange ideas on how the APO network and resources
can be shared. I also participated in that forum held
in Bangkok last December and found that it was more
thorough than I had anticipated in its deliberations.
It provided the opportunity for participating NPOs
to compare their strategic roadmaps, taking into account
country needs and operational constraints, so as to
retain a level playing field in changing markets.
Despite the current economic recession prevailing
in member countries, globalization has had a significant
impact on the lives of the people, particularly those
in rural areas. In order to maintain and enhance the
vitality of the agricultural economy, we will address
a host of emerging issues which has an important bearing
on globalization and agricultural economy. They include,
for example, genetically modified organisms (GMOs),
hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP), and
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS). Furthermore, the
2002 program will continue to emphasize activities
relating to environmental sustainability such as watershed
development, conservation of forest resources, irrigation
management, land classification and farming systems,
and pest management. I have repeatedly emphasized
at previous WSMs the importance of maintaining close
liaisons between NPOs and agriculture-related ministries
and agencies because they are critical to plan and
implement APO projects smoothly and meaningfully.
We have made considerable progress in this regard
and I hope NPOs will step up their efforts to reinforce
the linkages with these partners.
I am very pleased to announce that the first version
of the Asia-Pacific Productivity Data and Analysis
was finally published last December. This new publication
has two important characteristics. First, it provides
a wide range of productivity data covering such areas
as domestic economy, internationalization, infrastructure,
science and technology, management, and people. Second,
it offers country analyses of member countries, emphasizing
productivity policies and proposals. I hope that this
publication will serve policymakers and researchers
as well as all concerned with productivity promotion
as a comprehensive and authoritative source of information
relating to productivity and socio-economic progress
in member countries. The first publication in a series
is never free of shortcomings. I look forward to your
constructive comments and suggestions for further
improvement when we publish the next version.
We have started to undergo external evaluation since
1999 and the first report was presented to the previous
WSM. During 2001, both the GP and ICD programs were
singled out for this exercise. We are now in the process
of compiling and analyzing the information collected
from member countries, and the provisional report
on the ICD will be presented at this meeting. The
report on the GP, once finalized, will be sent to
each member country. The evaluation of the ICD program
revealed that it has been highly appreciated by participants.
This supports our view that the productivity movement
should be expanded to rural and community development
from the viewpoint of social fairness. Both external
and internal project evaluation will be continued
not only to ensure the accountability and credibility
of APO activities but also to put its programs under
constant review for further improvement.
With a view to renovating the operational system
of the Secretariat and to serving better the needs
and requirements of member countries, I set up four
committees last year in relation to project planning
and coordination, work improvement, IT utilization,
and public relations cooperation. Those committees
have been assigned to review APO activities and work
procedures to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness
of project planning and implementation based upon
closer coordination and cooperation within the Secretariat
as well as with member countries. A number of recommendations
were derived from these committees, many of which
have already been implemented. They include, to mention
only a few, the streamlining of projects in terms
of priority, linkages, sequence, and coding, standardization
of the questionnaire formats for internal project
evaluation, installation of a local area network (LAN)
at the Secretariat which is to be linked to NPOs through
the extranet, and constant updating of the home page.
In addition to these renovations, I wish you to note
that the conventional five-year plan has been replaced
by a two-year plan as we found it more practicable
in view of today's fast-moving economy and it will
allow us to operate more efficiently to meet your
expectations.
I must place on record our sincere gratitude for
the kind support and cooperation received not only
from all member countries but also from other international
and regional organizations, national and local governments,
and NGOs in upgrading the quality and contents of
APO programs. Let me express my appreciation to the
International Labor Organization, the United Nations
Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization,
the ASEAN Foundation, the Food and Fertilizer Technology
Center for the Asian and the Pacific Region, the Colombo
Plan Secretariat, the UBIFRANCE, the Canadian International
Development Agency, the State of Hawaii, the Carl
Duisberg Gessellschaft, and the Maastricht School
of Management. I am also happy to report that the
APO has signed a Letter of Intent with the Regional
Institute of Environmental Technology, Singapore to
explore the possibilities of collaboration in the
areas of Green Productivity and sustainable investment.
I look forward to expanding cooperation and collaboration
with them and other organizations for the cause of
productivity.
Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the
advent of the new millennium has given rise to new
crises in rapid succession. The bursting of the dot.com
bubble in the USA has triggered an economic recession
at the global level, and the ensuing uncertainty of
our society was further aggravated by the September
11 terrorist attacks. In such an economic predicament,
I think that we should uphold our shared conviction
that the productivity movement is the key to eliminating
the growing apprehension concerning the future and
putting the sustainable economic development back
on track. The IPC '01 held in Singapore confirmed
our significant contribution to rapid socio-economic
development in the region over the past four decades.
The present Workshop Meeting is both important and
timely. It is important to revitalize our economies
by mobilizing our thoughts and wisdom through cooperation
among all NPOs. It is timely to set a common vision
and direction for advancing the productivity movement
in the region. I look forward to your active discussions
so that member countries and NPOs can respond to all
the challenges that lie ahead.
I would like once again to thank the Government of
Thailand and the Thailand Productivity Institute for
their warm hospitality and welcome. I wish you all
very fruitful discussions and an enjoyable stay in
Chiang Mai. Thank you.
