45th SESSION of the APO GOVERNING BODY MEETING
3-5 September 2003, Korolevu, Fiji
Statement of the Secretary-General
by Takashi Tajima
Secretary-General, Asian Productivity Organization
Mr. A.F.M. Sarwar Kamal, APO Chairman and APO Director
for Bangladesh;
Mr. Brian Singh, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Labour, Industrial Relations and Productivity, APO
Director for Fiji, and Chairman, Training and Productivity
Authority of Fiji (TPAF);
Mr. Jone Usamate, APO Alternate Director for Fiji
and Director General, TPAF;
Distinguished Delegates, Advisers, Observers and
Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to
the 45th Session of the APO Governing Body. First
of all, on behalf of all member countries and the
Secretariat, I would like to express my sincere appreciation
to the Government of Fiji for hosting this important
meeting. We are honored to have had His Excellency
Laisenia Qarase, Prime Minister of Fiji, grace the
inaugural session with his presence, and would like
to thank Mr. Kenneth Zinck, the Honorable Minister
for Labour, Industrial Relations & Productivity,
for his warm words of welcome, and Mr. Brian Singh,
APO Director for Fiji, for his kind support. I would
also like to acknowledge with heartfelt thanks the
excellent arrangements made by the able staff of the
TPAF for the meeting and their warm hospitality extended
to all of us. The inaugural address made by the minister
of international trade and industry of Malaysia at
the previous Governing Body Meeting held in Kuala
Lumpur cautioned us about the widening productivity
divide among member countries over the years. Member
countries have always expressed the wish to eliminate
this undesirable phenomenon. The formation of strategic
alliances among member countries and NPOs has been
encouraged to narrow the productivity divide.
The 2002 Annual Report, which was circulated for
your kind approval, provides a comprehensive account
of APO activities carried out last year. The three
strategic pillars of the current APO productivity
agenda, namely strengthening of competitiveness, harmony
between productivity and the environment, and maintaining
social fairness were taken into consideration in designing
all APO activities. Today I am pleased to highlight
the major achievements and efforts following the previous
Governing Body Meeting and share with you some concerns
and thoughts on the APO's policy, strategy, and directions
in response to the rapidly changing environment and
needs of member countries. I would like to start from
five thrust areas.
Program Highlights
First, let me talk about knowledge management (KM.)
We recognize that there has already been a shift from
intensive capital-based industry to one that is largely
based on knowledge. The critical question is: "How
can we identify the knowledge in enterprises and individuals
and utilize this knowledge in new forms?" Enabling
mechanisms are required to share the knowledge within
an organization and at the same time to ensure a wider
distribution of applied knowledge.
Innovation will be of paramount importance in this
knowledge-based economy. The APO has therefore devoted
its resources to support the efforts of member countries
in institutionalizing knowledge management to enhance
the competitiveness of enterprises and to strengthen
the capabilities of NPOs to propagate KM among their
clients. Last year, KM was incorporated as a major
theme in a number of APO multi-country and country-specific
programs to reflect its importance. For example, a
study meeting was held in Singapore to address the
issue of transforming quality circles into knowledge
and innovation circles for greater value creation.
Technical assistance was rendered under the Development
of NPOs (DON) Program to the Vietnam Productivity
Center (VPC) to build up KM capabilities. In less
than one year, the VPC was able to render KM services
to its client enterprises. The ROC also serves as
a good illustration, since its government has allocated
resources to establish nationwide KM infrastructure.
SMEs are no longer operating under the old industry
paradigm based on "labor and capital" but
will have to compete and transform themselves in the
new knowledge-based economy. Neither the size of operations
nor the level of technology matters. It is the capability
to enhance competitiveness, creativity, and innovativeness
where SMEs can build distinctive competencies to challenge
bigger corporations in niche growth areas or in the
global marketplace. Recognizing the need to create
vibrant and resilient SMEs that will be the backbone
of the economies of member countries, the APO embarked
upon a series of SME-related projects emphasizing
entrepreneurship and innovation and leveraging industry
networks and the global supply chain. One such project
was the Asian Venture Business Forum organized annually
in Osaka, Japan, since 2000 with a special grant from
the Japanese government. This forum offers opportunities
for small entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region
to forge business alliances in technology and marketing.
A series of SME-related projects were implemented
in the ROC on such topics as entrepreneurship, technological
adaptation, and the new role of government. These
projects sent a clear message to SMEs that they should
operate in the KBE, foster a new innovative culture,
and form networks or alliances with others to sharpen
their competitive edge.
Corporate governance has now emerged as one of the
most crucial issues for business corporations as its
underlying principles of fairness, transparency, accountability,
and responsibility have an important bearing on increased
productivity and competitiveness. Both the APO Basic
Research XI and the Top Management Forum held in Kyoto
last March dealt with corporate governance. I wish
to highlight a couple of findings derived from these
projects. First, there are no global standards as
such in corporate governance because it has developed
against the backdrop of specific socio-cultural environments
as well as firm-specific management systems and practices.
Second, it was found that state-owned enterprises
which are prevalent in Asian countries should introduce
corporate governance for greater transparency and
accountability.
The year 2002 was an epoch-making year for the Green
Productivity (GP) Program. There were remarkable accomplishments
for the GP Program through the APO's participation
in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
in Johannesburg, South Africa, during August. Our
participation in the WSSD made the vision and achievements
of the APO's GP Program known globally. Our proposal
for a partnership initiative on GP-integrated Community
Development (ICD) in the region was included in the
official WSSD documents. As a follow-up to the WSSD,
the 2nd World Conference on Green Productivity was
held in Manila in December 2002 as another landmark
event under the GP program. Subsequent to the 1996
World Conference on GP, the second was organized to
review the progress made by the GP Program so far
and to chalk out future directions in light of the
decisions and outcomes of the WSSD. The APO also participated
in the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, in
March 2003 and presented our views on water pollution
and conservation. Eco-tourism-related activities were
also undertaken to commemorate the International Year
of Eco-tourism.
The first National Green Productivity Convention
in Vietnam was held in Hanoi in March 2003. It was
a very impressive convention attended by GP teams
from nearly 80 villages all over Vietnam. A multi-
country workshop on GP-ICD was also organized in Hanoi
to spread the GP-ICD message more widely among member
countries.
The GP Program is now at a stage where there should
be more intensive private-sector participation to
benefit from their extensive environmental management
experience. Toward this end, a high-level GP Advisory
Committee comprising representatives of the Japanese
private sector has been established. The GP Program
continues to expand and enhance its concept and wider
applications.
A better response to globalization has become a major
concern of our Agriculture Program. In this regard,
we have focused our efforts on three major areas:
1) improving the competitiveness of agriculture and
agribusiness; 2) promoting the sustainable development
of the sector and its resources; and 3) addressing
rural poverty through ICD. To improve competitiveness,
for example, projects in 2002 addressed the impact
of trade liberalization on agriculture, sanitary and
phytosanitary measures, and food processing and export
strategies. With regard to sustainability, we highlighted
the importance of watershed development, conservation
of forest resources, and the use of non-pesticide
farming methods. To address rural poverty, the special
program for ICD placed emphasis on productivity and
management tools tailored for community development
while at the same time reinforcing the NPOs' involvement
in community development.
Exactly like private enterprises, NPOs need to refocus
their vision and redefine their role to make radical
changes in their way of thinking and acting in light
of the increasingly competitive environment. The APO's
DON Program is in place to serve this particular need.
In country-specific programs, resources in the form
of expert services have been deployed to help the
Sri Lankan government in formulating its public-sector
productivity policy, the NPO of Bangladesh in developing
a strategic action plan for productivity improvement,
the Mongolia National and Productivity Development
Center in creating performance measures for model
companies, and the VPC in upgrading IT and KM capabilities.
Through its multi-country program, on the other hand,
the APO has played a significant role in enhancing
NPOs' institutional capability by conducting annual
workshops on productivity specialists and core competence
as well as the Forum on Development of NPOs. The previous
Forum on Development of NPOs held in Tehran deliberated
on ways to measure the integrated performance of NPOs
based upon the design of the NPO scorecard. Another
collaborative endeavor among member countries is the
APO Best Practice Network, which has contributed to
helping NPOs position themselves as leaders in the
knowledge transfer of global best practices to client
firms. 9. The APO Liaison Officers Meeting held at
the Secretariat in April 2003 was a very rewarding
event that reaffirmed the close bonds not only between
liaison officers and the Secretariat staff but also
among liaison officers themselves. It provided good
opportunities for liaison officers to deepen their
knowledge, particularly of the modus operandi of APO
activities, and to understand the issues and constraints
faced by each. A number of issues were raised and
agreed upon for implementation.
The 2002 edition of the APO Asia-Pacific Productivity
Data and Analysis, which was first introduced in 2001,
was published with much improvement. I believe that
the second edition presents productivity parameters
in a more comprehensive manner than the first and
would like to record my sincere appreciation to the
chief expert and all national experts involved in
this exercise. We will continue to make further efforts
to improve its usefulness to policy makers in government,
business, and all others concerned, for which we need
stronger support of all member countries and NPOs
to secure the cooperation of national experts.
Among IT applications in the APO's activities, both
the APO intranet and extranet have now become fully
operational, allowing us to share relevant knowledge
and information with all NPOs through the APOnet and
APO Web site, including e-books. I am also pleased
to report that a pilot e-learning project, the JICA-Net
Seminar on Total Quality Management, was implemented
last February through a network of videoconferencing
centers in Tokyo, Jakarta, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur.
This was the first teleconferencing project organized
by the APO in cooperation with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency, to which I wish to record my appreciation
for allowing us to use its facilities and for cosponsoring
the project. We plan to organize more e-learning projects
for member countries as they are cost-effective and
also create greater multiplier effects.
Future Perspectives
Now I would like to change the subject to our future
perspectives. The main challenge in KM is to expedite
its applications at the organizational and corporate
levels. APO symposia, study meetings, and seminars
conducted so far have indicated that there is sufficient
awareness of the subject. But until and unless organizations
and corporations actually put the KM concept into
practice, it will remain an armchair exercise. Because
it is a new tool, not many enterprises have the confidence
to apply KM techniques to day-to-day operations. In
light of this, we are looking into the prospect of
identifying KM-oriented corporations in member countries
as models to share their practical learning experiences
with all member countries. Another important endeavor
is the development of measurement tools to gauge the
effectiveness of KM implementation. The KM audit,
for example, is one useful tool that should be developed
for widespread use by member countries. A combination
of demonstration effects and measurement capability
is expected to widen applications of KM further in
member countries.
Globalization results in the worldwide interdependence
of the production of goods and services. It has brought
about demands for product and service excellence,
which has had an impact on the SMEs that are an integral
part of the global supply chain. A majority of the
SMEs in the region remain vulnerable and face structural
weaknesses. In coming years, we will place greater
emphasis on activities catering to the specific needs
of this category of SMES. Additionally, we will devote
our resources to generating programs that will foster
entrepreneurship and innovation, improve supply chain
management, and encourage cluster-based industrial
development. These were also the priority areas suggested
at the last Workshop Meeting of Heads of NPOs to support
SMEs in member countries.
In the area of governance, we want to tackle two
new areas. First, we will attempt to design an index
of corporate governance which could be applied in
member countries. Second, we wish to introduce the
concept and philosophy of corporate governance to
local governments and state-owned enterprises. In
both cases, clear guidelines must be established for
the concerned organizations to maximize the value
to stakeholders based upon accountable and transparent
policies and services.
Under the GP Program, special emphasis will be placed
on such issues as greening supply chains, green purchasing,
and waste, water and energy management. GP in communities
for poverty alleviation will be expanded further and
applied to other member countries. The APO is working
with the Regional Institute of Environmental Technology
based in Singapore and some European organizations
to develop the Sustainable Investment Global Network
for Asia, which is another APO partnership program
registered at WSSD.
The trend of globalization will gain further momentum
and have increasing influence on various aspects of
the agricultural and rural sectors in the region.
For example, the region's agribusiness sector will
encounter growing consumer concerns over food safety
and quality. Farmers and agro-processing enterprises
will face increasing international competition. They
are being asked to pay more attention to the environmental
impact of their activities and to their resource bases.
To cope with such challenges, from 2003 onward the
Agriculture Program intends to place increasing emphasis
on the three major areas of: 1) improving the competitiveness
of agriculture through improved marketing and greater
value addition; 2) promoting more sustainable development
of the sector; and 3) addressing rural poverty through
ICD. We will step up our efforts to strengthen the
institutional linkages between NPOs and relevant agricultural
agencies and reinforce collaboration between agriculture
and other programs.
The APO recognizes the need for NPOs constantly to
review, refocus, and redesign their activities in
order to remain lead agencies in driving national
productivity movements in the age of rapid change.
The APO Secretariat will continue to explore new approaches
under its DON Program to serve better the specific
needs of NPOs and also to cater to the increasingly
different needs in member countries. One of the new
approaches adopted by NPOs is the sharing of resources
by forming strategic alliances. Good illustrations
are the alliance between the NPC India and NPDC Mongolia
for productivity promotion and development, and that
between the NPC Malaysia and CPC ROC for benchmarking
and best practices. Such collaborations will go a
long way toward making a significant difference in
the capability enhancement of NPos. Ultimately, they
will contribute to the strengthening of the APO in
order for it to achieve excellence in its future activities.
18. At the previous Workshop Meeting of Heads of NPOs,
a consensus was formed among member countries that
more emphasis should be placed on Category B and Category
C projects. To refresh your memory, Category B projects
target selected member countries that share an interest
in a particular theme or topic, while Category C projects
are intended to serve individual member countries
to meet country-specific needs. I think that the relevance
of these two categories has increased since they are
specific in nature and more suitable to meet the diversifying
needs and interests of member countries. The last
Workshop Meeting proposed a number of Category B projects
for implementation in 2004. At the same time, we will
continue to focus on Technical Expert Services and
the DON Program under Category C. In line with this
intention, the APO took part in the Tokyo Conference
on the Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka
held last June with the participation of 51 countries
and 21 international organizations. We presented a
statement to indicate our intention of providing assistance
to Sri Lanka. I hope the project proposals we worked
out could be put into effective implementation in
close cooperation with the Sri Lankan government.
I hope that future program planning will be based
on a ratio of 60 percent for Category A (open to all
member countries), 30 percent for Category B, and
IO percent for Category C, following the decision
made at the 1998 Governing Body Meeting.
The productivity movement is multi-faceted and has
become multi- dimensional, embracing not only economic
but also social, community, and environmental aspects.
The APO must seek new ways to help members to cope
with the current realities and emerging challenges.
For this purpose, the APO must strengthen its collaboration
with organizations and agencies in other parts of
the world. Against this background, I would like to
place on record our deep gratitude for the kind cooperation
received from other international and regional organizations,
national and local governments, and NGOs in enriching
the quality of APO activities. Let me express my heartfelt
appreciation to the International Labour Organization,
United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture
Organization, Asian Development Bank, Colombo Plan
Secretariat, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center
for the Asian and Pacific Region, UBIFRANCE, Japan
International Cooperation Agency, US Environmental
Protection Agency, State of Hawaii, and Regional Institute
of Environmental Technology, Singapore. In this connection,
I am pleased to report that we have entered into an
MOU with the State of Hawaii so as to step up our
cooperation for the benefit of both parties. Further,
we are in the process of renewing the MOU with the
UNEP to strengthen our GP program. I look forward
to enlarging the scope of cooperation and collaboration
with those and other organizations to achieve greater
excellence in our programs.
In its efforts to save costs, the Secretariat has
already introduced a number of measures including
the use of discount air tickets. Local implementation
costs also have an important bearing on APO finances.
The decision made by the Governing Body in 1998 encouraged
member countries to meet all local implementation
costs when hosting APO projects. I believe that there
are two important reasons underscoring this decision.
The bearing of local implementation costs by the host
country not only demonstrates the spirit of mutual
cooperation among member countries on which the APO
is based, but also helps to organize more new projects
to serve the needs of member countries. I am aware
of the budgetary constraints faced by many member
countries. Thus, I would like to reiterate the need
to adhere to the above-mentioned Governing Body Meeting
decision. In this respect, direct intervention by
APO directors would be highly appreciated to secure
the necessary budget for local implementation costs.
Let me refer to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) which has infected a number of member
countries. This has inevitably affected our operation
which has led us to postpone the implementation of
all projects originally scheduled for April and May.
In coping with SARS, a series of precautionary and
safety measures have been taken by both member countries
and the Secretariat. We resumed our project implementation
in mid June upon the declaration of the World Health
Organization that all Asian countries and regions
were free from the threat of SARS. However, I hope
that all member countries will stay alert and provide
a safety net to protect all people in the event that
SARS may recur.
Concluding Remarks
Ladies and gentlemen, the new development scenario
in the region and the world, rapid advances in technology,
new concepts in business, and new demands from society
will require new perspectives and strategies in our
productivity endeavor. While we are confident of the
future of the APO, the most important task facing
us is to find innovative and creative responses to
new challenges so that the APO can be the driver for
change. It is said that the productivity movement
is a marathon with no finish line. The challenges
of globalization and technological developments which
lie ahead of the APO in its productivity journey will
be, no doubt, more complex to deal with than those
of the past four decades. I believe that the productivity
movement should be accorded its own place and responsibility
in combating emerging socio-economic difficulties.
It is my sincere hope that this meeting will give
us new insights on how we can proactively respond
to these challenges through the sharing of experiences
and the pooling of the wisdom of all delegates and
participants.
I would like once again to thank the Government of
Fiji for hosting this meeting and the Training and
Productivity Authority of Fiji for making the excellent
arrangements. I wish you all very fruitful discussions
and an enjoyable stay in this beautiful island nation
in the South Pacific.
Thank you.
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