Abstract - Quest for Global Competitiveness - Universidad de Puerto ...

Jamaica, unfortunately have had a long history of macro economic instability as manifestin long and sustained high inflation rate, high interest rate, unstable exchange rates, hugebudget deficits and, unsustainable external balances. These conditions have impactednegatively on the cost of doing business in the local economy. As such, the goods andservices produced in this environment are generally globally uncompetitive whencompared to places like Singapore which have managed to maintain stability in theirmacro economy. To generate stability in its macro economy, like Singapore, smalleconomies such as Jamaica will have to generate a surplus in their fiscal accounts. Thiswill require growing government revenue and/or cutting government expenditure. Thelessons from Singapore showed that this fiscal discipline has been a major driving forcein their quest for enhancing the competitiveness of the various elements of their diamondof national competitiveness.Another important lesson from the study is that the quality of domestic infrastructurematters. In upgrading its diamond of national competitiveness, Singapore made sure toimprove the quality of its human and physical resources. Universities recruit high qualityfaculty, they focus on areas with specific skills that are needed for improved internationalcompetitiveness (e.g. math and science education), they link pay to productivity, providecomputer access to their citizenry so as to improve their skills in areas of information andcommunication technologies to enhance the efficiency, productivity and, reduce cost ofdoing business. Also, the quality of their sea and airport infrastructure is of a highstandard. This has helped to improve the efficiency with which international businesstransactions are being carried out.There are a number of ways in which Jamaica and other small economies can improvetheir human and physical infrastructure in order to upgrade their diamond of nationalcompetitiveness. These economies should focus on promoting the use of informationtechnology in all aspects of business transaction (the public sector should take a lead rolein this effort); improve access and the ability to take up the increased access to tertiaryeducation (this can be achieved through the granting of more subsidized university places25