Deal

In the end, a deal was reached although no one seems happy with it.

The UN climate change conference convened in Lima, Peru on Dec. 1. Facing a deadlock threatening no closing document might be signed, the conference extended two more days. Delegates worked through the last 48 hours without a break until a document everyone might sign on to was prepared.

The final document, in the eyes of environmental activists, contained very weak language. There is nothing in it that might make tough schedules for reducing carbon dioxide mandatory for nations. The final document, to the disenchanted ones, does not ensure that the goal of limiting global warming to only two degrees centigrade.

To those more optimistic, the Lima document sets a firm foundation for more definitive climate change measures in the 2015 meeting. All 194 countries that sent delegations to the Lima meeting subscribe to the final document. That, in itself, is a sound starting point.

No one, after all, expected this particular meeting to achieve the reversal of carbon dioxide production responsible for bringing up our planet’s temperature. Urgent as global warming might be, it is a phenomenon that will take many years to reverse. There simply are no quick fixes.

It is never easy to forge a document many countries can all agree on. The challenge in Lima the past two weeks was to produce a framework agreement 194 countries will sign on to.

Climate change is a problem of such magnitude, it can only be addressed if all nations work together on a common plan of action. That is easy to say. Nations have their interests to protect and none are willing to sacrifice their economies so readily.

The debate on climate change has been thoroughly politicized along the north-south divide. Poorer nations tend to be also the most vulnerable to rising sea levels. Richer nations tend, understandably, to generate more of the gasses that harm the environment.

Poorer countries want rich industrial nations to absorb deep economic costs in the immediate term reducing their carbon footprints. They also want the rich nations to absorb the costs inflicted by climate change on the poorer nations. The debate tended to follow the rich-poor divide among nations.

The rich nations are, understandably, reluctant to meet the more stringent demands. They have, after all, both economic and political costs to pay – some of them too costly to absorb.

Getting all nations to agree on a common agenda for action is much more a task for diplomats than it is for environmental activists. Understandably, activists will find any diplomatically feasible consensus wanting.

Reversing climate change will be a long drawn-out process. Right now, there is unanimity about the nature of the problem although there remains much disagreement about what exactly needs to be done.

Although nations have dramatically differentiated capacities, there could be unanimity that each will bear as much as can be borne in addressing what might seem an intractable enemy.

Regenerate

From time to time, companies need to regenerate in order to realize their growth potentials in changing market conditions.

Last week, publicly-listed Alliance Select Foods International (ASFI) announced the reorganization of both its board and top management. The reorganization brings in younger executives expected to lend dynamism to the company. Assuming the post of CEO is 46-year-old Raymond See who rose through the ranks at Pilipinas Shell.

Jonathan Dee, the visionary entrepreneur who, along with his siblings, worked hard to grow ASFI into the impressive company it now is, assumes the post of chairman. Company treasurer Joanna Dee-Laurel along with COO Teresita Ladanga announced their retirement. This is the way large corporations that began as family-owned enterprises evolve.

ASFI is one of the country’s veritable multinational corporations, involved in manufacturing, canning, importing and exporting food products. In 2004, the company established its marketing offices in Bangkok, Thailand. That proved to be a far-sighted strategic move, enabling ASFI to tap into the global network of buyers and brokers of canned tuna. Thailand is the regional jump-off point for trade with the European Union.

In 2005, ASFI acquired a stake in FDCP Inc., a regional can-making company. The acquisition ensured an improved cost structure for canned tuna exports, enabling the company to be globally competitive.

In 2008, ASFI established a strategic subsidiary in Indonesia by acquiring a tuna cannery on Bitung, North Sulawesi. The renovated factory has been upgraded to increase its capacity to 90 metric tons a day, ensuring enough supply for ASFI’s expanded marketing.

ASFI’s strategic moves to broaden its regional production footprint are now the model for other Filipino firms engaged in exporting canned marine products. These moves anticipate the integration of the ASEAN market that will take a dramatic step forward in January 2015.

Over the next few years, expect Filipino firms to enter into strategic partnerships and subsidiaries with many more countries. It is no longer feasible for our firms to be globally competitive and yet maintain their production and marketing facilities within the country. Regional integration of firms is now the norm for globally competitive Filipino firms.

Our government might seem a step or two behind the pace of regional integration. Private companies, looking at cost advantages on a daily basis, adapt more easily than bureaucracies pondering the political implications of policy changes.

As the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) evolves, its pace and form will be dictated by dynamic and progressive companies in the region.  If we lag behind instituting business-friendly measures, our own companies will migrate to our more efficient neighboring economies.