We have allowed ourselves to become so distracted by a sense of hopelessness that we have forgotten to recognize our own greatness and the myriad of possibilities that could make our country great and prosperous. A monk once told me that the best therapy to overcome despair is to put one’s mind to work on building something, anything. So it seems to me that our most urgent activity is to apply a pragmatic business approach to identifying a few areas of competence that we agree to excel in, pull up our sleeves and get to work.
We must remember economist Lester Thurow’s emphatic warning that globalization is demanding all enterprises – business and governments – to have a "clear selling proposition." Governments of the past used to be tasked with defining the rules for those who wanted to invest in their economies. Today, government and business working together must do everything to convince an investor why their country is a better bet than another one that does pretty much the same thing. Traveling around Asia, one can feel a dynamic collective national energy in many instances intently working on refining, branding and promoting identifiable niche products and services.
The man in the street in India knows about the country’s technology thrust and encourages his children to excel in math and science. The people of Shanghai have a clear understanding of China’s public service orientation and tourism programs and make personal sacrifices when their districts are destroyed and converted into parks. A village in Thailand is working hard growing the best pepper and making chili sauce because the people experience the positive effects of the government’s Thai food promotion program. The hotels in Penang are improving their services to attract foreigners who are there for eyebag operations because Penang is being aggressively marketed as a medical tourism destination to compete against India and Thailand.
Now that our President has a longer term to work with, business, labor, government and civil society act with urgency to create industry clusters around key products and services, reengineer what needs to be improved, benchmark against our best competitors, put our limited resources together to share on research, packaging, branding, marketing and promotions. The power of clustering and branding propels a positive and constructive energy that will excite even the most cynical and especially the most forgotten man in the street. We can unite around a campaign for the Philippines to be the "Music Capital of Asia"; to be the most relaxing and comforting medical tourism destination; to be the source of healthy "cold pressed coconut oil," the most delicious dried mangoes; and for "Filipino service" to be the best in the world among many others.
Once products and services are clearly defined, it would seem to me an easy task to train and rally the workforce towards new levels of productivity because it knows where the enterprise is heading and is proud of it. For one, even the greatest enemies who hate each other will ride the same train, if it is speeding towards a promising destination.
The massive competition abroad is demanding us to direct our efforts to set aside distrust of each other with strategic planning activities and to identify our "unique selling proposition." Foremost, we must remember the principle that synergy among many working towards a common goal will have a greater chance of surviving both in business and in a national context. And we have very little time.