TRADE and Competitiveness in the Caribbean was one of the key subjects discussed at last week’s three-day conference on Trade Policy in Barbados.
There were a number of presentations with one of them being done by Annabelle Haynes of the Competitiveness Company of Jamaica.
She made the point that competitiveness which is the new buzz word in international marketing cannot be undertaken in isolation. Haynes believes that competitiveness takes into account international competitors, value chain and other cultural attributes which must be exploited. She said that market tracking and public relations to accompany them are also vital in that they helped to drive Caribbean companies. She told participants at the seminar that the Competitiveness Centre had registered 11 trademarks to protect Jamaican products, and noted as well that the Company’s Intellectual Property programme has identified opportunities for regional collaboration, within a regime which is usually marked by exclusivity.
Productivity is only one of the sources of competitiveness. This view came from Mrs. Indera Sagewan-Alli, of the Caribbean Centre for Competitiveness at the University of the West Indies.
She said that the issue which productivity raised in relation to competitiveness is the actual selling of a product/service at a cheaper price. In this way, the official pointed out, the firm is able to realise maximum return from greater efficiencies. She explained that competitiveness spans a wide gamut of things.
She said too that focusing on a differentiation strategy also allows a firm to develop a competitive advantage especially when it is focusing on niche market and where a higher price because the market is prepared to pay that price.
Market intelligence is also a source of competitiveness.
Sagewan Alli remarked that it is important especially for firms operating in a global environment and in a world which is changing so rapidly where we have to come to terms with the fact that fossil fuel for energy is a dying industry.
“So issues of the environment are important. So having good market intelligence requires a good understanding of market trends where the world is going in terms of products, in terms of environmental issues that allow you to unveil that knowledge and that intelligence into your decision making process and into determining what are the products that can be produced and what are the niches,” she said.
According to her, the success of a firm and the sustainability of that success is linked to the competitiveness in both local and international markets.
Other presenters were Garik Joseph and Nicardo Nell.
BARBADOS ADVOCATE
