Murphy's Law of Competitiveness
Competitive economies export products; uncompetitive economies
export people.
- If you want more exports, make it easier to import-most
of what you send out requires something of what you send
in.
- If you want to boost exports, do not create an Export
Promotion Agency.
- Crony capitalism is not the only solution to the government
planning failures of "democratic socialist republics" free
enterprise is also an option.
- Asset-stripping privatization has not yet been declared
a crime against humanity and will have to be dealt with
for the time being as a purely national issue.
- Get the private sector to build your roads, ports and
power plants-it's cheaper, safer, lasts longer and friendlier
to the environment. And if anything does go wrong, there's
someone you can sue.
- Negotiate free trade agreements. Not only do they boost
your exports, they'll also let you blame the foreigners
for having to implement those nasty reforms. Also, the opposition
parties will have a heck of time reversing your initiatives
once they are enshrined in internationally treaty documents.
- Half of new incremental foreign investment comes from
existing customers; so before going off to a trade show
in Frankfurt, talk to the investors already here and fix
their problems-their word-of-mouth will do more for your
than your costly advertisements in the Financial Times.
- The "one-stop shop" was not supposed to be the "one more
stop shop."
- When it comes to foreign investment promotion, forget
what economist Paul Krugman says and pick winners and losers.
If you need help, hire the Irish.
- Tell your university professors to talk to business people
instead of just to each other. In case they haven't noticed-the
kids need jobs!
- Why test kids on their memories? If you want memory, buy
a computer chip. How about testing kids for something computers
can't do?
- Taxing business to pay for the chamber of commerce is
like taxing people to support the churcheveryone pays and
nobody goes. An effective chamber of commerce has a governance
structure that leads to its members, not to the Ministry.
- Competitive economies need more than a "level playing
field"-they also need rules of the game that don't change,
a trained team, decent equipment, and a good strategy!
- The point is not to promote more dialogue, but to promote
effective dialogue.
- It's not just government that needs reform. To paraphrase
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, many industry clusters in emerging
economies are coming out of their own 100 years of solitude.
- Competitiveness is really only understood at the level
of firms and industry clusters, but the prosperity of a
country also depends on having the right platform for it.
- As the scientists at the missile base in Kharkov, Ukraine
now tell us, "creating prosperity is not rocket science
any more." The lessons are now clear, and we now have the
tools.
- To paraphrase Stephen Dedijer, a major constraint to competitiveness
is the prevalence of mental viruses-bad ideas that keep
good ones from coming in.
- The number one obstacle to competitiveness is the mindset
of the people.
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