When the likes of Europe and the US are getting more and more
competitive by integration, the question of how Asian companies can
achieve this has drawn the attention of many Asian countries.
In a panel discussion on Sunday at the Boao Forum for Asia
Annual Conference in Hainan Province, the "Competitiveness of Asian
Countries" was the topic for discussion.
Asian companies are playing an increasing role in the economic
growth of their various countries. "However, the ratio of Asian
multinational corporations is lower than American and European
corporations." said Umar Ahmad Ghumman, Pakistan minister of State
for Privatization and Investment.
He said, "This is the time for Asian multinational companies to
gear up their operations and to forge strategic alliances and
partnerships with each other, as they have more scope compared to
USA and European multinational companies, like reasonably priced
skilled labor, cost effective and abundant availability of raw
materials, huge markets, inter-Asian free trade agreements, and
economic reforms in Asian countries," he said.
"Asian countries should unite together to achieve
competitiveness, which refers to the competitiveness of Asia as a
whole instead of single countries," said Ghumman.
Robert F. de Ocampo, president of Asian Institute of Management,
said that to build up their strength in the global market, Asian
companies required to be innovative, should not isolate themselves
from global competition and needed to improve product quality in
labor-intensive industries.?
Asian companies also needed to identify their positions in the
market, he continued. "We've seen many enterprises succeed because
they understand their domestic market and how to develop new
products for that market.
Drawing on the experience of his dairy company, Pan Gang, chairman
and CEO of the Yili Group, shared his views with other panelists on
how a company could gain a competitive edge.
Pan believed that it took time to build up a brand image. Yili
had avoided tough competition with its rivals. Instead the company
increased its competitiveness by intensifying internal corporate
governance and developing new markets that met consumer needs.
He highlighted innovation as being an important factor. "Many
companies in Asia are small in scale and are very young compared
with renowned global companies. However, they are more flexible in
making changes and can be innovative," Pan said.
On the role of government in enhancing the competitiveness of Asian
companies, Ocampo offered his thoughts.
He said government should make the private sector the main players
in competition as they were innovative. They should also be
provided with favorable public policies to better promote
innovation and competitiveness and have access to capital to
develop.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Yuan Fang, April 24, 2006)