When we think about innovation, most often we are trapped with the paradigm where new products are associated with new technology. The product to be commercialized on the market must have new features that attract customers. As a precondition for these features, new technology must be embedded, hence investments for R&D need to be allocated.
Along with such investments, the acquisition of new knowledge to build the capacity to deploy an innovative idea needs to be orchestrated. Consequently, the capital expenditure is spent not only for the hard but also soft side of R&D investments.
But to extend an innovation, a company does not need to initiate radical things. Combining the existing competency with what is needed from the customer side may sometimes bring a unique value proposition for a company.
Consider this case. TNT is often associated with a delivery of goods, most often documents and other sample merchandises. Ordinary packages including fragile ones are inclusive. However, during the SEA Games in Bangkok, samples of blood from athletes need to be tested in China. These samples must be packed in certain temperature to keep the sample valid for testing. Thus, TNT launched its 'Medpak Thermo' service where samples are kept cold by packing them in dry ice.
Medpak Thermo service may be new for TNT. The company needs to source the packing box filled with dry ice, maintain the temperature inside the box, learn new packaging methods for blood samples and ensure the delivered sample meets the criteria for blood testing.
New processes were learnt, but definitely these ones were not new since packing blood samples for laboratory testing has been practiced for decades. The learning curve takes some time, but once TNT gains capabilities to deliver such thing, the company can maintain its business sustainability with this new service.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Alfamart, Indomaret, dan toko Kembar
Di dekat rumah saya, terdapat sebuah toko kelontong bernama Kembar. Entah mengapa toko tersebut bernama demikian. Mungkin saja pemiliknya kembar siam. Atau bisa jadi anak dari pemilik tersebut kembar. Yang pasti dimula kami tinggal di kompleks tersebut, toko Kembar merupakan satu satunya toko kelontong di sekitar hunian kompleks.
Boleh dibilang kompleks yang terdiri dari tiga blok utama, blok D, E dan I merupakan daerah kekuasaan toko Kembar ini. Di daerah saya, blok E, setidaknya ada dua ratus rumah. Di blok D, terdapat lebih banyak lagi rumah karena ukuran rumah disini rata rata sekitar setengah sampai tiga perempat dari blok E dengan luas area dua kali Blok E. Sementara blok I merupakan daerah dengan luas area yang paling kecil, namun dengan rumah rata rata satu setengah sampai dua kali ukuran rumah di blok E.
Sudah tigapuluh tahun kami tinggal di kompleks blok E dan setidaknya sekitar duapuluh lima tahun toko Kembar memantapkan posisinya sebagai pemonopoli di daerah ini. Adapun posisi dari toko Kembar berada di jalan utama yang membelah blok E dan blok D. Blok I sendiri, sebenarnya sejajar dengan blok E, letaknya cukup jauh dari Kembar jika dibandingkan dengan kedua blok tersebut.
Satu satunya pesaing toko Kembar dimasa lampau adalah mini market Jameson yang berada di blok D. Namun toko ini tidak selengkap toko Kembar. Hanya berjalan lima tahun dan kemudian tutup. Sementara di daerah blok A, kurang lebih dua hingga tiga ratus meter dari blok D, praktis hanya Hero (sekarang menjadi Giant) yang masih beroperasi.
Melakukan transaksi di toko Kembar, layaknya toko kelontong, merupakan suatu keasyikan tersendiri. Dengan susunan barang yang boleh dikata acak-acakan, pembeli seringkali menyisir satu persatu rak untuk mendapatkan barang yang dicari. Pengelolaan susunan barang, boleh dikata belum baik. Memasuki toko, anda akan disambut oleh sebuah tempat berjalan yang membelahi dua bagian. Di sebelah kiri terdapat fotokopi dan beberapa peralatan kantor. Sementara disebelah kanan terdapat makanan dan minuman ringan.
Tidak jauh dari situ, terdapat kasir yang ditunggui oleh si Kokoh dan istrinya, sang pemilik toko. Meskipun nama aslinya tentu bukan Kokoh, namun seperti tipe warga negara Indonesia keturunan Tionghoa yang berdagang, julukan Kokoh selalu melekat di para pelanggan. Adapun si Kokoh, bisa menjadi sumber informasi letak barang sekecil apapun. Dengan gayanya yang unik, sesekali Kokoh berteriak kepada para penjaga toko untuk melayani pembeli. Si Kokoh pula yang menjadi kasir dan menyambut para pelanggan. Terkadang pada saat membayar, si Kokoh sering bersenda gurau dengan pembeli, membuat suasana menjadi cair dan akrab. Yang paling unik, dengan banyaknya barang di toko tersebut, tanpa bar code scanner, si Kokoh hafal semua harga barang. Entah ini dibuat atau memang hafal, hanya si Kokoh dan Tuhan yang tahu.
Kebutuhan mulai dari makanan ringan, sabun, sampo, beberapa barang kamar mandi seperti gayung, bahkan alat alat kantor dijual disini. Demikian juga tabung gas serta air mineral galon. Dibagian belakang terdapat beberapa alat kantor yang tidak terdapat di bagian depan. Yang menarik, untuk pembelian gas, pembeli dapat meminta pelayanan antara selama daerah yang dituju masih di kisaran ketiga blok tersebut.
Sejak lima tahun terakhir, dengan adanya Indomaret dan kemudian disusul Alfamart, serta dengan beroperasinya jaringan ritel Carrefour, pangsa pasar dari Kembar mulai menurun. Benar bahwa dengan adanya tambahan pelayanan cuci baju, Kembar masih bisa bertahan. Namun untuk jenis makanan ringan serta kebutuhan kelontong lain yang menjadi andalan toko ini, daya beli masyarakat sekitar mulai menurun. Membeli di toko semacam Alfamart dan Indomaret sangat praktis, disamping pengelolaan barang yang mudah, sehingga pembeli yang kurang cerdas sekalipun dapat dengan cepat menemukan barang yang dicari. Lagipula di kedua toko tersebut dipasang pendingin udara, sehingga membuat nyaman para pelanggan.
Ada satu kelebihan yang mungkin tidak didapat di toko Kembar. Kecepatan dalam transaksi. Pemakaian bar code scanner mempercepat proses transaksi, dibandingkan dengan daya hafal si Kokoh beserta mesin kasir jaman dulu yang masih digunakan. Kebanyakan pembeli di jaringan toko tersebut bukan hanya membeli satu atau dua barang kebutuhan. Terkadang bisa sampai sepuluh jenis dengan barang yang bervariasi. Penggunaan bar code scanner dalam hal ini tentunya sangat membantu.
Selain itu, diterimanya penggunaan debit card, semakin membuat pelanggan beralih dari toko Kembar ke Alfamart atau Indomaret. Dengan mudah pembeli di sekitar kompleks melakukan transaksi tanpa perlu harus mengeluarkan uang dari dompet, menghitung lembaran yang harus diserahkan, juga untuk kembalian dari kasir.
Faktor lain yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah terdapatnya hiburan di jaringan toko tersebut. Setidaknya kedua tipe toko tersebut selalu menyalakan musik, apakah itu radio atau CD. Terkadang, televisi yang terpasang di Alfamart dinyalakan pada sore hingga malam hari sehingga pengantri di kasir dapat menonton sambil menunggu giliran barang mereka untuk dihitung.
Hanya baru satu bulan terakhir ini, Juli 2011, toko Kembar tutup. Seiring dengan waktu, si Kokoh beserta istrinya nampaknya sudah mulai memperhitungkan pembeli yang makin menurun. Kecuali untuk tabung gas, praktis barang dagangan si Kokoh juga dijual di Alfamart dan Indomaret. Adapun untuk jasa cuci baju, terdapat laundry star wash yang menyediakan pelayanan cuci basah dan kering untuk berbagai jenis pakaian dan bahan. Praktis tidak terdapat lagi nilai keuntungan yang didapatkan pembeli di toko Kembar.
Inovasi bisa dimulai dengan hal yang sepele. Bar code scanner membuat kecepatan transaksi meningkat. Penggunaan pendingin udara di Alfamart dan Indomaret membuat pelanggan lebih nyaman. Susunan rak yang rapih dan terkelola membuat pelanggan mudah untuk mencari barang. Adanya hiburan membuat pelanggan betah untuk berlama lama di toko, sehingga menimbulkan keinginan untuk membeli barang lain yang bisa jadi tidak terlalu dibutuhkan.
Di satu sisi, tutupnya toko Kembar merupakan kekalahan era keemasan toko kelontong. Era dimana pembeli dan penjual bisa berinteraksi, bersenda gurau dan tertawa. Di lain sisi, tutupnya toko Kembar merupakan sebuah refleksi bagi para pedagang untuk terus melakukan perubahan. Dalam bentuk sekecil apapun, perubahan tersebut dapat dideteksi oleh pelanggan. Pada akhirnya, pelanggan sendiri yang akan memilih kemana tempat yang paling sesuai untuk melakukan transaksi.
Boleh dibilang kompleks yang terdiri dari tiga blok utama, blok D, E dan I merupakan daerah kekuasaan toko Kembar ini. Di daerah saya, blok E, setidaknya ada dua ratus rumah. Di blok D, terdapat lebih banyak lagi rumah karena ukuran rumah disini rata rata sekitar setengah sampai tiga perempat dari blok E dengan luas area dua kali Blok E. Sementara blok I merupakan daerah dengan luas area yang paling kecil, namun dengan rumah rata rata satu setengah sampai dua kali ukuran rumah di blok E.
Sudah tigapuluh tahun kami tinggal di kompleks blok E dan setidaknya sekitar duapuluh lima tahun toko Kembar memantapkan posisinya sebagai pemonopoli di daerah ini. Adapun posisi dari toko Kembar berada di jalan utama yang membelah blok E dan blok D. Blok I sendiri, sebenarnya sejajar dengan blok E, letaknya cukup jauh dari Kembar jika dibandingkan dengan kedua blok tersebut.
Satu satunya pesaing toko Kembar dimasa lampau adalah mini market Jameson yang berada di blok D. Namun toko ini tidak selengkap toko Kembar. Hanya berjalan lima tahun dan kemudian tutup. Sementara di daerah blok A, kurang lebih dua hingga tiga ratus meter dari blok D, praktis hanya Hero (sekarang menjadi Giant) yang masih beroperasi.
Melakukan transaksi di toko Kembar, layaknya toko kelontong, merupakan suatu keasyikan tersendiri. Dengan susunan barang yang boleh dikata acak-acakan, pembeli seringkali menyisir satu persatu rak untuk mendapatkan barang yang dicari. Pengelolaan susunan barang, boleh dikata belum baik. Memasuki toko, anda akan disambut oleh sebuah tempat berjalan yang membelahi dua bagian. Di sebelah kiri terdapat fotokopi dan beberapa peralatan kantor. Sementara disebelah kanan terdapat makanan dan minuman ringan.
Tidak jauh dari situ, terdapat kasir yang ditunggui oleh si Kokoh dan istrinya, sang pemilik toko. Meskipun nama aslinya tentu bukan Kokoh, namun seperti tipe warga negara Indonesia keturunan Tionghoa yang berdagang, julukan Kokoh selalu melekat di para pelanggan. Adapun si Kokoh, bisa menjadi sumber informasi letak barang sekecil apapun. Dengan gayanya yang unik, sesekali Kokoh berteriak kepada para penjaga toko untuk melayani pembeli. Si Kokoh pula yang menjadi kasir dan menyambut para pelanggan. Terkadang pada saat membayar, si Kokoh sering bersenda gurau dengan pembeli, membuat suasana menjadi cair dan akrab. Yang paling unik, dengan banyaknya barang di toko tersebut, tanpa bar code scanner, si Kokoh hafal semua harga barang. Entah ini dibuat atau memang hafal, hanya si Kokoh dan Tuhan yang tahu.
Kebutuhan mulai dari makanan ringan, sabun, sampo, beberapa barang kamar mandi seperti gayung, bahkan alat alat kantor dijual disini. Demikian juga tabung gas serta air mineral galon. Dibagian belakang terdapat beberapa alat kantor yang tidak terdapat di bagian depan. Yang menarik, untuk pembelian gas, pembeli dapat meminta pelayanan antara selama daerah yang dituju masih di kisaran ketiga blok tersebut.
Sejak lima tahun terakhir, dengan adanya Indomaret dan kemudian disusul Alfamart, serta dengan beroperasinya jaringan ritel Carrefour, pangsa pasar dari Kembar mulai menurun. Benar bahwa dengan adanya tambahan pelayanan cuci baju, Kembar masih bisa bertahan. Namun untuk jenis makanan ringan serta kebutuhan kelontong lain yang menjadi andalan toko ini, daya beli masyarakat sekitar mulai menurun. Membeli di toko semacam Alfamart dan Indomaret sangat praktis, disamping pengelolaan barang yang mudah, sehingga pembeli yang kurang cerdas sekalipun dapat dengan cepat menemukan barang yang dicari. Lagipula di kedua toko tersebut dipasang pendingin udara, sehingga membuat nyaman para pelanggan.
Ada satu kelebihan yang mungkin tidak didapat di toko Kembar. Kecepatan dalam transaksi. Pemakaian bar code scanner mempercepat proses transaksi, dibandingkan dengan daya hafal si Kokoh beserta mesin kasir jaman dulu yang masih digunakan. Kebanyakan pembeli di jaringan toko tersebut bukan hanya membeli satu atau dua barang kebutuhan. Terkadang bisa sampai sepuluh jenis dengan barang yang bervariasi. Penggunaan bar code scanner dalam hal ini tentunya sangat membantu.
Selain itu, diterimanya penggunaan debit card, semakin membuat pelanggan beralih dari toko Kembar ke Alfamart atau Indomaret. Dengan mudah pembeli di sekitar kompleks melakukan transaksi tanpa perlu harus mengeluarkan uang dari dompet, menghitung lembaran yang harus diserahkan, juga untuk kembalian dari kasir.
Faktor lain yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah terdapatnya hiburan di jaringan toko tersebut. Setidaknya kedua tipe toko tersebut selalu menyalakan musik, apakah itu radio atau CD. Terkadang, televisi yang terpasang di Alfamart dinyalakan pada sore hingga malam hari sehingga pengantri di kasir dapat menonton sambil menunggu giliran barang mereka untuk dihitung.
Hanya baru satu bulan terakhir ini, Juli 2011, toko Kembar tutup. Seiring dengan waktu, si Kokoh beserta istrinya nampaknya sudah mulai memperhitungkan pembeli yang makin menurun. Kecuali untuk tabung gas, praktis barang dagangan si Kokoh juga dijual di Alfamart dan Indomaret. Adapun untuk jasa cuci baju, terdapat laundry star wash yang menyediakan pelayanan cuci basah dan kering untuk berbagai jenis pakaian dan bahan. Praktis tidak terdapat lagi nilai keuntungan yang didapatkan pembeli di toko Kembar.
Inovasi bisa dimulai dengan hal yang sepele. Bar code scanner membuat kecepatan transaksi meningkat. Penggunaan pendingin udara di Alfamart dan Indomaret membuat pelanggan lebih nyaman. Susunan rak yang rapih dan terkelola membuat pelanggan mudah untuk mencari barang. Adanya hiburan membuat pelanggan betah untuk berlama lama di toko, sehingga menimbulkan keinginan untuk membeli barang lain yang bisa jadi tidak terlalu dibutuhkan.
Di satu sisi, tutupnya toko Kembar merupakan kekalahan era keemasan toko kelontong. Era dimana pembeli dan penjual bisa berinteraksi, bersenda gurau dan tertawa. Di lain sisi, tutupnya toko Kembar merupakan sebuah refleksi bagi para pedagang untuk terus melakukan perubahan. Dalam bentuk sekecil apapun, perubahan tersebut dapat dideteksi oleh pelanggan. Pada akhirnya, pelanggan sendiri yang akan memilih kemana tempat yang paling sesuai untuk melakukan transaksi.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Social networks and the opinionating views
It is remarkable to see the use of a social network in expressing our minds. Nowadays, social networks not only have changed the commoners, or in simple words ordinary people like me and you, in expressing concerns, but beyond that also pledged our appetite for active engagements in opinionating public views.
While at present this transformation seems to be seamless, the evolvement of it in our state was intriguing.
Prior to the reformation era, when the days of information were reigned by the printed media, most newspapers were sincere enough to allocate a space for catering reader opinions at the price of sufficient identity to be given to the editor.
But only those trying to be a hero, daring to challenge the authority, would use this mean for changing the mainstream opinions. Bored with the government ruthless disinformation, those pundits offered alternative views targeting the elites.
Thanks to the invention of the printing machine, information can be mass distributed in less than twenty four hours.
Such distribution enabled the commoners to comprehend ‘the developed situation’, but at the same time, it gave also room for the elites to allege those responsible for subversive views.
It was also prior to the reformation era, as it is now, the commoners had wider choices to raise their concerns via the growing numbers of radio and TV stations. Sadly, the utilization of this media was somehow under, again, the elite pressure.
To cater public opinions, interactive discussions were operated through phone lines. Everyone can fake their identity while expressing a catastrophic opinion on air. This time, the responsibility was shifted to the broadcasters.
During the reformation era, the mode to express opinions changed dramatically with the emergence of the internet. Thanks to the virtual world, everyone created their nickname. Some underground newsgroups were even hosted abroad with moderators concealing the origin of the source.
The internet system however has some drawbacks. Its flexibility to place any information without selective measures created distrust from critical commoners on the content it provided.
To make it worse, the use of the internet in spreading alternate opinions was also crippled by accessibility issues. Internet access at the time was not cheap. High inflation rate forced people to choose food over the internet.
Still, it was admitted, as claimed by upper income commoners, that the internet was contributable to the fall down of the new order.
But not until the convergence of facebook and twitter into mobile devices, the commoners gain their momentum.
The days where the commoners shared their views through interactive phone are being swept away. Real time transmission is said to be the pinnacle proposition to use social networks.
For the commoners, social networks mean sharing views and opinions as well as connect socially in a single economic transaction. As for broadcasters, social networks mean an efficient way to pool opinions in short time with single resource.
When we question the effectiveness of social networks to reach wider audience, we can say that social networks at present facilitate the most pervasive way to share views in front of the public.
But whether such effectiveness gives impact, just like when the internet hegemony demolished the new order, it remains to be seen.
While at present this transformation seems to be seamless, the evolvement of it in our state was intriguing.
Prior to the reformation era, when the days of information were reigned by the printed media, most newspapers were sincere enough to allocate a space for catering reader opinions at the price of sufficient identity to be given to the editor.
But only those trying to be a hero, daring to challenge the authority, would use this mean for changing the mainstream opinions. Bored with the government ruthless disinformation, those pundits offered alternative views targeting the elites.
Thanks to the invention of the printing machine, information can be mass distributed in less than twenty four hours.
Such distribution enabled the commoners to comprehend ‘the developed situation’, but at the same time, it gave also room for the elites to allege those responsible for subversive views.
It was also prior to the reformation era, as it is now, the commoners had wider choices to raise their concerns via the growing numbers of radio and TV stations. Sadly, the utilization of this media was somehow under, again, the elite pressure.
To cater public opinions, interactive discussions were operated through phone lines. Everyone can fake their identity while expressing a catastrophic opinion on air. This time, the responsibility was shifted to the broadcasters.
During the reformation era, the mode to express opinions changed dramatically with the emergence of the internet. Thanks to the virtual world, everyone created their nickname. Some underground newsgroups were even hosted abroad with moderators concealing the origin of the source.
The internet system however has some drawbacks. Its flexibility to place any information without selective measures created distrust from critical commoners on the content it provided.
To make it worse, the use of the internet in spreading alternate opinions was also crippled by accessibility issues. Internet access at the time was not cheap. High inflation rate forced people to choose food over the internet.
Still, it was admitted, as claimed by upper income commoners, that the internet was contributable to the fall down of the new order.
But not until the convergence of facebook and twitter into mobile devices, the commoners gain their momentum.
The days where the commoners shared their views through interactive phone are being swept away. Real time transmission is said to be the pinnacle proposition to use social networks.
For the commoners, social networks mean sharing views and opinions as well as connect socially in a single economic transaction. As for broadcasters, social networks mean an efficient way to pool opinions in short time with single resource.
When we question the effectiveness of social networks to reach wider audience, we can say that social networks at present facilitate the most pervasive way to share views in front of the public.
But whether such effectiveness gives impact, just like when the internet hegemony demolished the new order, it remains to be seen.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Innovation adoption in rural areas: mobile internet in dwindling information gap
How can innovation in information technology be extended to cover not only its richness but also its reach characteristic?
The key here is that the transformation of technology platform from:
1. Products that need significant amount of learning to product less need of learning
2. Product having ‘higher’ price to ‘lower’ price (massive scale of economies)
3. Product that can be economically attractive enough (through its installed and network based) for companies to extend
As an example is the spread use of internet through mobile phone. At a decade ago (i.e. 1990s and early 2000s), when the use of internet was solely mediated through PC/Laptop with cable from the network operator, the digital divide issue was coined intensively and efforts to dwindle such gap were concentrated on the enlargement of wiring network infrastructure. The dominant users of the internet were supposed to be those in the middle class income or those opportune enough to be provided such information at their office.
Nicholas Negroponte, seeing the impact of the digital device on the lag knowledge for those living in poor countries or rural areas, introduced the OLPC (one laptop per child) enabling the next generation to be familiar with the information technology start up kit.
The revolution of mobile phone penetrates not only on the way people connect to each other, but also on the provision of information. The price of mobile phones, first introduced with over $ 1,000 each, has rapidly plunged to a range of $ 30. This price is affordable for rural communities. Not only the price is reduced, but the service is extended to the provision of information such as via mobile internet, with a reasonable price. The extension benefits not only those who has the ability to pay for information access both through mobile and wiring technology, but also for people who never think about the internet, let alone to use it.
Why the mobile internet can become or will become even effective in dwindling the digital divide. By looking at the three factors above, it can be seen that in comparison with the PC or laptop, the mobile phone is relatively straightforward in its function. It is solely tailored for communication but also can be extended for accessing information. Because its function is simple yet flexible enough, a mass scale adoption could be spread for wide range of communities, at cities, urban and rural areas.
With such opportunity, telecom operator is encouraged to invest on larger network by installing Base Transmission Station (BTS) in urban and rural areas. This installed base platform convinces mobile phone makers to introduce low cost mobile phones that can be absorbed by communities in rural areas.
The key here is that the transformation of technology platform from:
1. Products that need significant amount of learning to product less need of learning
2. Product having ‘higher’ price to ‘lower’ price (massive scale of economies)
3. Product that can be economically attractive enough (through its installed and network based) for companies to extend
As an example is the spread use of internet through mobile phone. At a decade ago (i.e. 1990s and early 2000s), when the use of internet was solely mediated through PC/Laptop with cable from the network operator, the digital divide issue was coined intensively and efforts to dwindle such gap were concentrated on the enlargement of wiring network infrastructure. The dominant users of the internet were supposed to be those in the middle class income or those opportune enough to be provided such information at their office.
Nicholas Negroponte, seeing the impact of the digital device on the lag knowledge for those living in poor countries or rural areas, introduced the OLPC (one laptop per child) enabling the next generation to be familiar with the information technology start up kit.
The revolution of mobile phone penetrates not only on the way people connect to each other, but also on the provision of information. The price of mobile phones, first introduced with over $ 1,000 each, has rapidly plunged to a range of $ 30. This price is affordable for rural communities. Not only the price is reduced, but the service is extended to the provision of information such as via mobile internet, with a reasonable price. The extension benefits not only those who has the ability to pay for information access both through mobile and wiring technology, but also for people who never think about the internet, let alone to use it.
Why the mobile internet can become or will become even effective in dwindling the digital divide. By looking at the three factors above, it can be seen that in comparison with the PC or laptop, the mobile phone is relatively straightforward in its function. It is solely tailored for communication but also can be extended for accessing information. Because its function is simple yet flexible enough, a mass scale adoption could be spread for wide range of communities, at cities, urban and rural areas.
With such opportunity, telecom operator is encouraged to invest on larger network by installing Base Transmission Station (BTS) in urban and rural areas. This installed base platform convinces mobile phone makers to introduce low cost mobile phones that can be absorbed by communities in rural areas.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Innovation and Sustainability: Nissan attempts to promote electric vehicles
In the world where people are becoming aware of the impact of global warming, the demand on cleaner and environmental friendly products has pushed automakers to engage in research and development of greener vehicles.
The attempt is not baseless. Information on climate changes, global warming and pollution covered by the media have changed people’s attitude in perceiving environmental issues as crucial subjects even from now. Saving the planet earth is not only a matter of preserving the planet from further disasters but also as a cognizance in promoting social values and responsibilities.
With the price of oil hovering beyond the psychological barrier of 100 dollar per barrel, efforts in commercializing more energy efficient vehicles which do not rely on fossil fuels are emerging. Relying on fossil fuel as the energy sources will not ensure environmental sustainability even if new materials allowing a car to be lighter and has better fuel efficiency are discovered. Excessive demand as a result of improving income is the major reason that such effort will become useless in the future.
As these issues progress, companies are attempting to come up with better solutions to anticipate the possible enactment of environmental regulations. It is obvious that from several options, electric vehicle appears to be the prospective choice for automakers along with hybrid vehicle. Electric vehicle is considered to be the most feasible solution to reduce oil consumption for transportation usages. The vehicle can be plugged in for power. The owner does not have to go to the gas station to fuel the car. The environment will be cleaner since CO2 pollution is reduced. At the same time the business facts suggest on the cons side. While operating electric vehicle seems to be straightforward and economically viable, current sales of the electric vehicle do not seem to be promising. Lack of speed and lengthy time to fuel the car are the main reason hampering the adoption of electric vehicle.
Zero emission cars, particularly electric vehicle, are perceived to be the trajectory of the car future by Nissan. The company believes that urban people as the major user of the car will shift their preferences to greener cars as the oil price becomes unpredictable. To anticipate this possibility, Nissan and Renault tied up together to develop their first electric car in
On the other hand, hybrid car is believed to be the dominant platform of the future car. Unlike what Nissan and Renault do,
Different tracks on the development of zero emission vehicles make Nissan aware that innovation is currently under the transient phase. On this phase, different technologies exist and each of them is battling to become a dominant platform. While the electric car is the most prevalent prospect seen by Nissan, there is no guarantee that efforts in promoting electric vehicle will turn the competition into an electric vehicle platform. To tackle this issue, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO, iterated that the company is pursuing different technologies to avoid abrupt changes in the trajectory.
Leveraging other technologies during the transient phase is essential to avoid the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome undertaken by companies thinking their technologies will become the dominant design. Once other tracks emerge and escalate, companies under NIH syndrome will not be prepared to deploy the emerging technology nor have sufficient time to catch up with those maturing in the trajectory.
Nissan has anticipated different routes in the transient phase to avoid the NIH problem. The company also expands it capabilities beyond electric vehicle to avoid the lock out problem. We will see whether the electric car will become a dominant design in the future. But at least we know that companies such as Nissan and Renault have prepared the capabilities ready to be deployed once different trajectories against their projection emerge.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Big Contracts: On the Verge of (Government) Troubles - Recommendations for MNEs in operating their business in the host country (Part 5 - Final)
Revisit from the previous parts
The previous parts of this paper have discussed changes on economic coordination leading to the evolution of economic governances. The paper also discussed disputed elements when a multinational enterprise operates in a host country. The final section of this paper will provide recommendations taken by multinational enterprises in devising strategies to cope with conflicting issues between multinational enterprise interests and the host government.
Foresight Steps
We recommend multinational enterprises to adopt foresight steps suggested by Daheim and Uerz (2006) in confronting issues on relations between MNEs and the host government. MNEs should apply four steps: identifying, projecting, anticipating and shaping issues associated with MNE operations in the host country. MNE can then characterize attributes of economic, social, political and environmental issues on each of these steps.
The identification step requires MNE to recognize issues both those in the pasts and developing issues in the current contexts. As disputes between MNE and the host government arise on economic/business, political, social and environmental dimensions, these factors must be taken into account. Past issues can be used as a learning process in which similarities with present issues and recurring issues in the pasts occur either in the exact forms or in different manifestations. These issues can enrich the MNE strategic vocabularies in anticipating long term outcomes that affect MNE operations once the strategic decisions have been made. On the other hand, developing issues are important for projecting the position of the MNE relative to the current and medium term contexts.
Some of the methods used to identify issues that may potentially lead into disputes between MNE and the host government can be in the form of literature studies, surveys or gathering information from experts. MNE can setup an internal organization dedicated to conduct activities associated with the host government – MNE relations. The organization does not necessarily restrict its activities in identifying issues but also can be extended to other steps (e.g. anticipating, projecting and shaping). Hence, the organization may be split into several divisions.
Four steps in confronting issues between MNE and the host government
Some examples on issues that can be identified by MNE are provided in
Results from the identification activities above can be employed as inputs for the projection activities. Based on the identified issues, MNE can project future outlooks that affect MNE operations. Uncertainties that may affect MNE operations can be derived by analyzing results gathered from the identification step. MNE can utilize literature reviews to analyze patterns from past histories and then combined with existing issues, MNE can project future developments based on similarities between data on past histories and identified trends/issues. Another way to project future developments is by using expert recommendations. Identified issues gathered by MNE can be forwarded to futurists to obtain sound judgements on future developments that affect MNE operations. MNE can also conduct scenario exercises to portray future developments. MNE staffs involved in strategic analyses or business developments can participate in scenario exercises. The 2 by 2 matrix highlighting 2 attributes on each element (i.e economic, social, political and environmental issues) can be applied when conducting scenario exercises.
Results from the identification activities above can be employed as inputs for the projection activities. Based on the identified issues, MNE can project future outlooks that affect MNE operations. Uncertainties that may affect MNE operations can be derived by analyzing results gathered from the identification step. MNE can utilize literature reviews to analyze patterns from past histories and then combined with existing issues, MNE can project future developments based on similarities between data on past histories and identified trends/issues. Another way to project future developments is by using expert recommendations. Identified issues gathered by MNE can be forwarded to futurists to obtain sound judgements on future developments that affect MNE operations. MNE can also conduct scenario exercises to portray future developments. MNE staffs involved in strategic analyses or business developments can participate in scenario exercises. The 2 by 2 matrix highlighting 2 attributes on each element (i.e economic, social, political and environmental issues) can be applied when conducting scenario exercises.
Anticipating issues are a creative process. Results from projection activities are crucial to develop strategies and tactics for MNE to secure its operations in the host country. Anticipation should be followed with shaping activities where interactions with key individuals and organizations become essential in maintaining the MNE business. Anticipation requires measures to be taken. MNE should devise carefully its objectives, plans and actions prior to entering into the shaping step. Literature studies on international business particularly the ones which are related with government attitudes and policies towards MNEs must be taken into account. The inputs from projection activities must be well fitted into studies and reviews conducted by experts. Anticipating plans and strategies should reflect scenario writings exercised in the previous steps. In summary, results coming from previous steps must be incorporated in the anticipating steps. Some examples on anticipating issues are provided in
Once the anticipation activities have been formulated, MNE can start taking actions to implement these activities. The larger portion of shaping activities should be directed on interactions with stakeholders affecting MNE business operations. These include interactions with government officials, house representatives/policy makers and lobbyist group (i.e. NGO). The aim of the interaction should be targeted for obtaining prognosis while at the same time influencing these stakeholders to devise policies and actions that maintain the MNE interests. Interactions with stakeholders can also be conducted for obtaining information on the tracks/policies that will be developed by policy makers as well as those policies that will be promoted by lobbyist groups/NGOs to the policy makers. In such case, MNE will have the advantage of gaining information will further enrich inputs for the subsequent steps (i.e. projecting and anticipating steps).
The shaping step can also be done with proactive communications through various media channels. MNE can use newspapers to promote its social responsibility programs or expand its communication channels by applying electronic media for wider coverage. In addition, joining industry associations are very effective to secure the MNE operation particularly if other MNEs within the industry share similar concerns. MNE can use this channel to influence policy makers in devising policies in favour of the MNE.
References
Blomstrom, M., & Kokko, A. (1997). The Impact of Foreign Investment on Host Countries: A Review of the Empirical Evidence.
Dunning, J. (1997). Governments and the macro organization of economic activity: an historical and spatial perspective. Review of International Political Economy, 4(1), 42 - 86.
Krismantari, I. (2008, 29 March ). French Areva to invest $ 15 m for business expansion in Indonesia. Jakarta Post.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Big Contracts: On the Verge of (Government) Troubles - Elements of disputes between the host country and the MNE (Part 4)
Revisit from the previous parts
The previous parts of this paper discussed about the roles of the government in equating impacts of the MNE presence in the host country. The second part of this paper described the roles of the host government as the initiator, controller and the supervisor of the state as well as its roles as the owner of the state assets. The third part of the paper described the MNE position to the host economy and contributions given by the MNE to the host economy. Some instruments used by the MNE to preserve its presence were also delineated. In the fourth part of this paper, themes and causalities which are often disputed between the host government and the MNE will be described. To restrict the boundary of the discussion, a framework consisting of four themes: economic, social, political and environmental dimensions will be applied. We also restrict the discussion on big contracts such as those in the oil and gas concessions and those in mining operations. Although we can extend these themes with technology issues, we will leave this matter since we find that technology issues rarely lead to a dispute. Most often we find that technology issues are connected with state security issues on merger and acquisition cases.
The analysis framework on big contract issues
Economic/business issues
Economic and business issues are the most common themes contributing to the dispute between the MNE and the government. Multinational enterprises seeking for new markets beyond their home country will confront with the government interests for improving its economy. On big contracts, the government as the owner of the state tries to secure its revenues while at the same time allows local enterprises to participate on big energy contracts in order to provide them opportunities to progress, thus allowing more economic independencies in the future.
The economic/business issues cycle
Big contracts involving resource extractions are carried out to render profits both for MNE and the host country. Based on the capacity of the stored reserve and the estimated cost spent for development and production activities, the government and the MNE can project the profit return once a big contract undergoes into the production cycle. Cost estimated by both sides may have been different due to different techniques in calculating the reserve as well as different assumptions applied in estimating cost associated with development and production activities. Different interpretations, techniques and assumptions on costs spent for these activities often culminate in tensions leading to lengthy negotiation process. Some of the negotiation processes even end with contract terminations.
Once the projected financial return is on hand, the MNE uses its bargaining power to reduce development and production costs especially if the scheme is under the so called production contract scheme. The government also has its interests to speed up the development process in order to gain the return in shorter time. The government can use its role as the regulator to issue instruments favouring the MNE. Incentives, tax breaks and other fiscal instruments can be formulated to ensure the completion of the project and to guarantee the output within the projected target. The amount of incentives and tax breaks may be argued since it is the MNE interests to reduce the cost as much as possible while maintaining the projected financial return.
Economic uncertainties perhaps make large contribution to disputes between the MNE and the host government on big resource contracts. Financial crisis making either the government or the MNE halt development and production activities is not uncommon. To the MNE, investments that have been made and committed need to be returned. In contract such as the development of a power plant in which MNE is involved in development and production cycles and sells the power to the government, financial crisis often leads to the rearrangement of financial terms. On conditions in which the power price is subsidized, the government may have insufficient fund to purchase the agreeable price as a result of state deficits. The rise of energy prices can also stimulate the rearrangement of financial terms between the two parties. Both sides try to set assumptions that may disadvantage the other side.
Observations from most cases suggest that disputes on the economic and business issues are relatively moderate unless financial tumbles occur. However, as often seen in countries having abundant resources with political instabilities and changes, the strenuous dispute often stems from political dimensions.
Political issues
While the rationales on business and economic issues leading to the dispute between MNE and the host government are based on economic objectives, the dispute coming from political issues is rather complicated since the causalities behind them can be either hidden or directly identified. Unlike disputes on the other issues, disputes stemmed from political dimensions may often permeate into economic/business, environmental, social and even technological dimension.
It is noted that changes on political system create the most arduous disputes between the MNE and the government. The political system changes often bring new attitudes from the government in viewing the role of MNE to the state economy. New political structure often carries new ideology, hence restructure the way a state conducts its economic activities. Mainly in developing countries, new political system often leads to the restructuring of the economic and business institutions. The government as the controller, regulator and supervisor as well as the entity that represent the state assets will maximize these roles to recuperate the loss they believe coming from the previous economic regimes.
Political issues that affect MNE operation
Changes on the government and public representatives (e.g. parliament, house of representative) are somewhere between modest and moderate as long as they will not change the political system of the country. New government often promotes new ideas, develops new policies and establishes new institutions which may affect MNE operations in the long run. The establishment of the business competition supervisory agency in
Changes on public representatives may also give impacts to the MNE operation. On the state system where the parliament is responsible for developing and formalizing bills and laws, rotations on parliament personnel may bring new dimensions to the business practices affecting the MNE operation. MNE must identify the majority composition in the parliament particularly when the parliamentary election is near. Changes on the parliament majority may lead to changes on laws and bills addressing business practices. It is often found that changes on the parliament as a result of the election bring disadvantage to the MNE particularly if the newly elected majority was the opposition of the old parliament regime.
The third factor that may lead to the dispute between MNE and the host government interests is the shift attitudes from public, government or the parliament. It is the factor that emanates from various dimensions. Pressures from international institutions or other countries may significantly change the host government attitude on MNE. On some occasions, diplomatic tensions may also suppress the MNE operation. Nationalization programs are promoted not because the host government intends to regain the benefit enjoyed by the MNE, but sometimes due to sentiment reactions to the country where the MNE comes from. On the local concern, sentiment reactions to the MNE emanate from local industries as they cannot compete with the MNEs. For some big energy contracts where MNE builds an exclusive complex for their operations in a remote region, social concerns are elevated to address social inequalities between people living in the MNE compound and their surroundings.
Social issues
Social and environmental issues commonly occur at local levels but these do not mean that the issues will elevate at the national level. On social issues, big contracts often create issues emanating from social discrepancies between MNE and local residents. When big contracts are orchestrated on undeveloped areas, a multinational enterprise often builds a complex for people working for the contract during the construction, development and production cycles. On the construction and development program, construction concretes and heavy machineries often introduce new perceptions for local residents. On these stages, local residents may find their areas are about to be invaded by a new world. Local residents are about to find that their social living will be distracted by the world of concretes and projects that create two different worlds. Their norms and cultures may be obstructed by new comer cultures. Consequently, rejections on the contract start to emerge during these phases.
Social issues on big contracts
When the contract progresses into production cycles, a multinational enterprise has settled its operations. The complex built for the contract is isolated from its surrounding. People living inside the complex are often equipped with facilities and luxuries unavailable in the local areas. Often, they do not assimilate with local residents because their activities are fully absorbed for the success of the project. Even for daily needs, such as foods, the complex has made an arrangement to cater the people in the complex with a designated catering service. These practices are not expected by local residents where they are used to interact to each other for daily needs. Often, these facilities stimulate envy attitudes to local residents. To make it worst, the isolated complex is well guarded creating a different space, different cultures and different worlds between activities inside the complex and activities outside the complex. Sometimes, the central government assists the multinational enterprise in securing the compound by sending troops to strengthen the security arsenal. Thus, instead of the conflict between the host government and the multinational enterprise, big contracts on remote areas create conflicts between the local government and the multinational enterprise.
At this stage, the suspicion alleged by the local resident during the construction and development cycles elevates. To local residents, the complex has created and introduced a culture that is alien to their daily practices. With isolated interactions between those living inside the complex and those living outside the complex, local residents feel that they are treated differently. Local residents feel that they are being offended not because of the activities of the contract but because the social living inside the complex is different from their norms and the people inside the complex has closed the door of interactions in which local residents are used to practice with each others.
Consequently social unrests evolve. It is not uncommon to find trespassing violations, rampant aggressions, stealing some of materials within the complex as well as vandalisms by local residents on facilities in the complex as well as to people living inside the complex. Therefore, a multinational enterprise must devise a strategy to cope with these issues to ensure their operation.
Environmental issues
Environmental issues relate in a great deal with the so called “externalities” in the economic studies. Externalities are impacts resulted from business activities carried out by the first party to the third party which does not have relationships to each other. Environmental issues are mostly found in the form of negative externalities in which the third party must bear the cost and impacts caused by activities carried out by the first party. At the local scale, externalities can be caused by air pollution emanated from MNE business operations. The act may create health problems to local residents and the cost born by the third party (local residents) is often uncovered by the first party.
Negative externalities in the form of waste pollutions can also occur when the contract involves material processing such as processing activities in the mining, petrochemical and refinery industries. Processing materials into higher added value products requires chemical materials that will be disposed once a cycle of process completes. These materials are often disposed to rivers and lands. In the short or long term, disposing toxic materials will bring ecological impacts to the surrounding areas. Toxic materials disposed to the river will bring health problems to local residents especially if the water on the river will be used for daily consumptions. Wasting or burying hazardous materials to the land can endanger the ecology of the local environment since disposed hazardous materials may contaminate the artesian water flowing under the ground and affect the habitats living within the area.
Disputes on environmental issues originate from externalities
Impacts in the long term can also originate from deforestation. Big contracts such as in the mining concessions often require land clearances where tropical forests reside. Although the clearances may not have direct impacts, ecological impacts are often detected in the incoming years. Deforestation affects climate changes and often contributes to global warming. Deforestation also reduces the soil ability to absorb the rainfall which in turn will create potential landslides not only within the contract area but also to its surroundings.
Disputes on environmental issues often start between local residents and a multinational enterprise. But as the dispute progresses and the environment impacts caused by MNE operations threaten the state environment, the host (central) government often interferes and uses its roles as the owner of the state asset to secure the state interests in preserving the national environment. While efforts offered by a multinational enterprise to substitute the cost of externalities may be worthwhile, it is often noted that the long term impacts of the MNE operation affecting the environment has only emerged in the incoming decades. Thus, the total cost born to the multinational enterprise may not equal to the impact it causes in the future.
Monday, 7 April 2008
Big Contracts: On the Verge of (Government) Troubles - Positioning multinational enterprise in the global economy (Part 3)
Revisit from the previous parts
The previous parts of this paper highlight issues on big contracts invested in a host country as experienced by multi national enterprises. Cases spanning from oil, gas and coal concessions are always connected to government terms and conditions as big contracts contribute significantly to the state revenue while at the same time pose risks on environmental as well as resource depletion issues originating from loose exploitation practices.
Big contracts are inseparable from changes on economic activities. Firms were used to operate their end to end production alone. Resources are extracted and processed on a single location. Firms also managed to sell their processed resources to buyers on the market without intermediaries. Nowadays with surging demands on energy products, big contracts are more specialized on resource extractions, resource developments, resource processing and resource distributions.
Changes on economic activities emanating from the division of labour have created separations on business activities among those involved in the extraction of raw materials, those supplying the production inputs, those processing the raw materials into higher value products and those distributing and selling the end products to the customer. As the economy of a geographical area progresses, surging demand forces firms to find additional sources to secure supplies. Resource depletion becomes a reason to expand beyond home territories. Competition has also driven firms to seek for new markets, new competitive sources and competitive labour rates as well as advance technologies to stay in the business.
Concurrently, finding new competitive sources beyond the home country has benefited both multinational enterprises and the host country. To the multi national enterprises, new markets provide a new space to maintain the business. New resources and new markets also put a multinational enterprise in a better position in the industry vis a vis to its competitors. To give a perspective, on big energy projects, the discovery of oil reserve on the host economy often raises the stock value of the multinational enterprise. Investors owning the multinational enterprise shares give credit to the MNE efforts by holding their shares. Consequently, the credit given by the shareholders creates confidence to other investors in buying the MNE shares rather than to choose on the competitor’s shares. On the other side, to the host country, foreign investment flows secure the host country economic growth while at the same time upgrade the investment status of the host country. We often see rating upgrades on a host country from institutions such as Standard & Poor when foreign investments flock into this country. However, as discussed in the previous parts of this paper, the host country must be aware that exposing access to international markets should be accompanied by providing benefits to all economic actors as well as to the society. Consequently, identifying, devising and deploying suitable policies to the favour of the state interests are essential to the sustainability of the state economy.
While we have seen the roles of the government in balancing the impacts of foreign investments, in the third part of this paper, we will see rationales of the MNE expansion at the global scale. The paper also discusses the positive roles of the MNE in the state economy and the way MNE uses various channels to preserve its global operations.
The rationales of MNE’s expansion
Perhaps there are no firms that are established for searching no profits. Firm is set deliberately as an effort to attain economic objectives held by actors through institutionalizing the division of labour. By setting up a firm, a line of business is defined, economic objectives are set, profits are sought and economic activities aiming to get profits are institutionalized and operated.
Market seeking activities is the underlying activities of a firm to attain its economic objectives. A firm seeks potential markets through assessing the demand it can provide as well as the supply it can manage to source. To do so, firms incorporate different activities based on the division of labour to produce goods or provide services in a single location. Once the demand and supply reaches equilibrium, a firm can extend its coverage in attaining its objectives by providing goods or services on different places.
Market is potentially created when new demand exists. Potential market can be viewed as an opportunity for firms to gain wealth and to sustain their operations. Firms which are able to meet new demands look for supplies to start producing goods or services. Consequently, other firms are created to supply demands of the firms which produce end products. As a result of market expansion, suppliers must expand to potential markets where buyers exist. We can see the example on the Indonesian power development projects. The plan of the Indonesian state power company to provide 10,000 MW power by 2009 resulted in power plant development projects which require electrical devices to be installed for distribution and transmission systems. The demands on electrical components were seen by Areva, a French based company, as an opportunity to expand their business operation. Accordingly, the company invested over $ 15 million in the country for fulfilling the demands on electrical devices (Krismantari, 2008).
Market seeking activities can also occur when competition intensifies. Firms doing the same business look for similar markets and confront each other to meet the demand. When the ratio of the profit per number of good to the production cost per number of good start to decline, the total industry outputs show insufficient margins to cover business operations and to gain the expected profits. Firms must find a way to repel competition either through offering cost advantages, simplifying production process, innovating or expanding to new markets.
Competition may force firms to produce competitive outputs through applying cost advantage strategy. Exploiting new locations which provide input sources that are competitive enough to reduce costs is often sought by a firm to stay in the business. New territories possessing abundant resources are explored and firms interested in seeking new resources can enter the host economy through direct investments or joint ventures. Firms involved in resource seeking activities commonly invest outside their home economies to gain cost advantages. Firms may also involve in resource seeking activities beyond their home economies due to scarce resources in their home country. Despite the two rationales, the wisdom of economic principles in gaining the maximum outputs through minimizing the input costs remains as the tenet of a firm in seeking resources beyond its home country.
Cost advantages can also be achieved by reducing operational costs. Specifically, firms engaged in labour intensive industries can expand their operation overseas to reduce their operational costs by using foreign labours with competitive rates. In particular when the home country labours are considered to be uncompetitive enough to the overall cost, firms start seeking new territories to move its production activities to recover their cost advantage strategy. While some would argue that a significant number of investments should be placed beforehand for catching the learning curve, the overall cost reduction in the long term is justifiable enough for a firm to expand overseas.
Differentiation on cost and to the large extent on product quality can also be achieved through using new technologies. Firms expand overseas to employ advanced technologies possessed by the host country. Firms can invest directly or venture with other companies to acquire better production systems through using new technology. By adopting new technology, a firm can produce better product qualities which are essential in differentiating its outputs to its competitors. A firm can also acquire new technology in order to speed up the production process, hence reaping the economies of scale. Acquiring new technology can significantly reduce both labour and production costs, thus increases the productivity of a firm. In some cases, innovative products require different processing technology unavailable in the home country. Firms can expand beyond their home economies to acquire technology permitting them to produce new innovative products.
All these rationales have conditioned a multinational enterprise to justify the need to expand beyond their home territories. The opportunity to seek for market, resource, skill and technological advantages is a long term perspective for the firm to stay competitive, while at the same time it intersects with the host economy interest to secure its economic growth.
MNE roles in the host economy
Although a multinational enterprise seems to be opportune enough to expand its operation beyond its home country, comparative observations suggest that the MNE investments can benefit the state economy in several ways.
The expansion of multinational enterprises brings capital flows to the state. Multinational enterprises need assets for their operations. In setting up their business, multinational enterprises need both physical and non physical capitals. Such needs are concretized by injecting financial capitals to fund MNE operations. Accordingly, the more the investment flows to the state, the more the confidence gained by the state on its investment status. Hence, not only the state can gain confidence on its monetary status but investment flows will also raise the confidence to invest in the host economy.
Another positive effect of the multinational enterprise presence in the state economy is the spillover effects. MNEs bring new skills both in management and technology during their operations. Best practice methods enable local workers to adopt new skills and learn new technology allowing them to be highly knowledgeable on the production and processing technology owned by multinational enterprises. Spillover effects will result in knowledge transfers if the labour mobility occurs. The move of employees working at multinational enterprises to local firms brings knowledge transfers which are essential in improving local firm capabilities. Multinational enterprises can also improve the quality of local products by providing feedbacks to local suppliers. In addition, MNEs can also educate customers and buyers in embracing sophisticated products (Blomstrom & Kokko, 1997). Consequently, spillover effects demonstrated by multinational enterprises lead to the improvement of product qualities and to the demand of more sophisticated products.
MNEs and the way they protect their operations
Despite the expansion rationales, multi national enterprises need to secure their operations in the host economies. Multinational enterprises invest in a large amount of money to gain profits. These investments have been committed and realized because multinational enterprises have projected the financial return in the long term. Multinational enterprises secure and commit their investments because their assessments on political, social and economical risks not only permit them to operate their business in the host economy but also secure their projected returns properly.
However, risks are unavoidable. Changes on the global economy, political transitions as well as social movements may instantaneously turn the table overnight. Large investments may not gain financial returns as projected by multinational enterprises due to unforeseen circumstances. To reduce these risks, multinational enterprises need instruments that can protect their investments in the long term. Operating in “mutual benefit agreements” with the state is one way to secure multinational enterprise interests in the host country. On a big contract, multinational enterprises share their expectations in securing their operations to the state representative and contribute some of the benefits through various means. On oil concessions, the reciprocal interests by both the government and a multinational enterprise are legalized in production sharing contract or technical assistance contract terms. Often, multinational enterprises engage in corporate social responsibility to demonstrate their good will in social development issues. On other occasion, multinational enterprises are conditioned to divest their shares to local governments or they initiate community development programs.
International market mechanism permitting asset mobilizations is another instrument used by multinational enterprises to secure their investments. In sectors involving labour intensive industries such as footwear and textile industries where physical assets are easily deployed and business operations are easily imitated by not so advanced countries, multinational enterprises can use asset mobilization instruments to move their operations to another host country. With such mobility, MNEs have the bargaining power to preserve their operations in the existing host economy by reasoning the incentive advantages offered by other countries.
International agreement is often utilized by MNE to secure their operations. Bilateral agreements between two governments often involve multinational enterprises. MNEs can use their home government roles as the owner and the protector of the state asset to secure their interests. Extension on gas contracts are often initiated from the bilateral talks between two countries followed by signing a memorandum of understanding tying the two governments in supplying and buying natural gas over a certain period of time. Prior to these talks, some of the multinational enterprises have often expressed their interests to their respective government in securing their existing operation in the host country.
The last resort often sought by multinational enterprises in securing their operations is through the use of arbitration mechanisms. In such case, multinational enterprises expect for compensation of expenses and other collateral costs spent during their operations. Multinational enterprises can litigate inconsistent regulations enacted to them. The nationalization program in
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Big Contracts: On the Verge of (Government) Troubles - The state roles in the global economy (Part 2)
Revisit from the first part
The first part of this paper has identified the call for understanding the role of the state and the MNE as well as how these two entities interact in the global economy. Mainly with the tendency to impose regulations as a mechanism in maintaining the economic interests of the nation versus the flexibility to mobilize assets to more favourable options has been utilized by both sides in the search of optimum economic margins. Accordingly, in the second part of the paper, the roles of the government in equating globalization with the benefits a nation can gain from it will be discussed.
Before depicting the role of the government in the state economy, I will first discuss brief excerpts from Dunning (1997) paper explicating about the evolution of the government interventions on the state economy. Chiefly, changes on economic activities over time as a result of interdependencies among actors in the economic system have brought in the government engagement in the state economy to ensure the benefits of economic activities are distributed impartially both to the society and the economic actors.
Changes on economic coordination
On its early days, economic activities were modest in which the market was defined as a place where buyers and sellers met directly to exchange their needs. The transactions performed by these parties did not involve intermediaries. Economic actors were predominantly performed by individual merchants or family businesses. The production functions were confined to the use of labours, raw materials and the adoption of simple production methods. The economic actors functioned as the end to end producer carrying economic activities from extracting and processing materials to selling the end products. In this simple economic system, the price was determined by resources an economic actor(s) could access, efforts he (they) made to produce a good and his (their) demands over other goods. While competition occurred, during normal occasions, the overall transaction between buyers and sellers did not require an intervention from the government since the government intervention would create a distorted market which in turn brought more damages rather than benefits to the state economy.
As the production functions became specialized and sophisticated, coordination between economic actors became more complex. Economic actors no longer performed all production tasks which were necessary to produce goods, but left some of these tasks to other actors. To meet the surging demands, labours were specialized into a set of skills to speed up production outputs. Specializations also drove better product qualities as labours focused on less, but specific, tasks rather than performing different production routines.
Coordination among firms also stemmed from the evolving diverse specializations in providing production inputs. While prior to the specialization, firms used to source all production inputs alone, labour specialization concepts allowed firms to supply production inputs to other firms, allowing a firm to concentrate on its core businesses. This resulted in the reduction of production costs associated with material processing as well as in the increment of production rates to catch up demand. With more firms engaged in sourcing production inputs for other firms, processing technology became essential in the economic system.
Market imperfection caused by human quests in searching for efficiencies has also urged firms to expand opportunities beyond their home economies. Labour specialization as a result in questing maximum economic gains has called for market coordination where production inputs (raw materials, skills and technology), processing methods and production outputs could be independently operated by different actors. Labour specialization has also created new modes of transaction where intermediaries and distribution channels became important in connecting different economic actors. Such specialization reduced the dependencies on collocation between suppliers, producers, distributors and consumers. At the same time, interdependencies among economic actors could also lead to erratic market behaviours as demonstrated by monopoly and monopsony practices which affected the good prices. Firms were becoming tight to gain profit margins. Consequently, these resulted in two possibilities: firms searched other sources beyond their home economies and government interventions are needed to restore the economy for the benefit of all economic stakeholders in the nation.
With the quest for raising competitiveness, the economy becomes interconnected among firms and the boundary level of a state is becoming irrelevant. Market is no longer bounded to local jurisdictions but has been extended to regional and even global spheres. Firms are in their interests to find resources globally to gain their competitive advantages. They also look for new and emerging markets to maintain or improve their financial portfolios. Firms also look for new resources beyond their home economies both to gain cost advantages through competitive labour costs and improve production qualities through skilled resources. On other occasions, shortages in material supplies forces firms to look for locations offering abundant resources to ensure their production continuities. It is often noted that this quest is also accompanied with the search for lower material costs to keep the firm’s cost advantage. Parallel with these searches, technological seeking activities can opportune firms in raising production efficiencies, enhancing product qualities or even turning the landscape of the market with new innovative products. All these require new modes of coordination in the economic system not only among firms but also between firms and state authorities.
Perception of the governments on globalization
To the government, the firms’ quest to improve their competitive advantages is an opportunity to improve the state economy. Dormant endowments inherited by a country can be promoted for improving the state economy. While natural resources can be exploited and sold directly, the state has chances to lever the economy by opening access to investments that create higher added values. The measure not only drives the economy but also stimulates technology transfers leading to the improvement of human resource capabilities.
New investments sought by multi national firms also comprise of market seeking activities. Through setting up plants and production systems, multi national firms need suppliers to source their inputs. With opening up the country for foreign investments, the economy can be improved since multiplier effects resulted from the need of backward linkages will create a network of supply chains and distribution channels.
The government can also see the positive effect of globalization on the human resources. Multi national enterprise investments often bring new technology and skills unavailable in the local resources. The improvement of human resources can in turn bring benefits to local firms if labour mobility occurs. In addition, the exposure of multi national firms experienced by local resources can be utilized in gaining access to international markets.
For countries having advance technology, the opportunity to benefit from foreign investments lies on the chance to diversify the existing production systems. Local firms can discern technological changes brought by foreign investors. Diversifying into broader competencies also drives better resilience in confronting competition. Local firms can expand their competencies and capabilities which could lead into new creation of products and processing systems. Often such outcomes create a new form of industry. Thus, opening access to foreign investments for developed countries will sustain the national economy.
Despite those promising prospects in exposing the country to global markets, globalization widens the gap of market imperfections. Both the government and multi national enterprises seek for more economic margins through diffusing their economic activities in the global stage. At the same time, different interests held by both sides tend to create tensions on the economic sovereignty. While an ideal capitalist perspective suggests that a government should leave the market with its natural ‘survival of the fittest’ mechanism, in realities, the government as the owner of the state assets, through private and public channels, holds its own interests to maintain its assets intact while at the same time leverages these assets to achieve the maximum benefits for the nation.
The role of the government
The rationale of the government interventions on the state economy should be viewed from two perspectives. On the one side, the government acts as the regulator, controller and supervisor of a state. Its roles in defining and specifying the level of playing field for economic actors are aimed to provide the overall alignment on the economic system. On the other side, the government also functions as the owner of the state through its public and private channels. With this function, the government is responsible for securing its own assets for the benefit of the state.
The government role as the regulator, controller and supervisor of a state is aimed to create a harmonious system associated with economic activities. The system can be harmonious only when the institutional frameworks both in regulation, supervision as well as in coordination have been setup properly. As the initiator, the government caters the need of public and private interests by developing proper regulations. Through regulations we see bills and laws governing economic activities in the state. The government is also responsible for ensuring the implementation of such regulations by setting up institutions tasked to monitor the economic practices in the state. Accordingly, the government often needs an institution that coordinates economic policies between various institutions and actors and setups an institution that is responsible for ensuring the economic efficiency in the nation without scarifying private and public interests.
On the other side, the government functions as the guardian of public and private interests. The government must ensure that both its assets and the utilization of these assets must provide benefits to all economic actors in the state. On the public interests, the government ensures that policies associated with supply and demands and to some extend price mechanisms are feasible to protect wider interests while at the same time maintain the natural dynamic of the free market system. The government must ensure that public institutions as the government arm length associated with economic and social developments work without significant obstacles. When dealing with private institutions, the government, through policies, must ensure that private enterprises work in providing goods for the people while at the same time local capacities and capabilities are maintained and improved to enhance the national competitiveness.
While local enterprises can be seen as the government asset, it is not uncommon that in the global state, foreign investments are seen as an attractive option for a state to foster its economic growth. Not only these investments bring capital flows, but also they provide multiplier effect through knowledge transfer, fostering forward and backward linkages and providing market accesses. At the same time, as the owner of the state asset, the government is responsible for maintaining the state asset embedded in public and (local) private interests from the dominion of foreign interests.
Therefore, the government, as the state representative, plays roles in the economy through initiating and establishing overall legal frameworks and institutions where business operates. In doing so, the government uses different policies and interstate controls to govern the national interests (either conveyed by the parliament, demanded by public, internal government plans or from the business player needs) and to create the balance between interests held by local and foreign economic actors in order to achieve the objective of the state economy (often stated by achieving growth, reducing inflation, and increasing the workforce).
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Big Contracts: On the Verge of (Government) Troubles - Introduction (Part I)
Introduction
Recent issues on high oil prices, sub prime mortgage and natural disasters have conditioned a perception where the global economy is on the brink of recessions. Countries are no longer optimist on their economies. Not even the IMF has a positive attitude on the world fate. On its 2008 global economic outlooks, the institution highlighted the world economic growth at 4.1% compared to the last year 4.9%. In the
Yet, these issues do not halt the world in searching energy supplies. In fact, even with tighter global economies, countries are trying hard to secure their energy needs, thanks to the surging energy demand from
To give a perspective, the OPEC output reaching 29.6 million barrel per day is insufficient to meet global demands. Not even George W. Bush can persuade this cartel to raise oil outputs. In the power sector,
Likewise, in
In the oil sector, the decline of oil productions at 910,000 bpd has created worries on the state fiscal deficit. Although the recent hike on oil price appears to relieve the state fiscal revenue, the government has to bear energy subsidies for premium fuel and kerosene. However, with major oil companies in the nation have production declines due to their aging oil wells; the government target to produce 1.034 million bpd of oil in 2008 appears to be dimmed. Even with the incentive such as tax reduction and more contracts sharing percentage given to oil companies, analysts suggest that the 2008 target is far from achievable.
In the power plant development, the ministry of energy and mineral resource has targeted to produce additional 10,000 mW power by 2009. The initiative will be secured through developing 35 coal fired power plants both in and outside Java. However, recent developments on the contract negotiations suggest that only 3 contracts were secured. When counting from the total portfolio, the government is still $ 2.78 billion short from the total $4.8 billion needed to fund the projects. Financiers’ dubious attitude on the government intention to guarantee the project was initially deemed as the major reason slowing down the negotiation progress. Now, even when they have the government guarantee, the talk over the interest rate decelerates the prospect of securing the country’s dire need of electricity. To make it worse, on its 20 February 2008 edition, the Jakarta Post dispatched the message from the state electrical power officer on the possibility of power outage due to the shortened supply of coal used to generate the Jawa Bali power interconnection.
Moving into the gas concession, different perceptions over the gas pricing have made some of the contract extensions under jeopardy. Consider this, while in January 2008, the Indonesian ministry of energy and mineral resource confirmed that the negotiation of the Natuna gas block was about to be concluded with ExxonMobil as the operator, just within a month, Pertamina, the state oil company, was denoted to take over the concession.
With such attitude, we might wonder what is happening on big energy contracts. To answer the question, I will use the state and the MNE relational framework. Chiefly, I will address the role of the state and the role of the MNE in the global economy. Subsequently, I will discuss elements leading to differences and disputes between the state and the MNE. Finally, I will provide some recommendations for the MNE in dealing with a government over big energy contracts.
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