The University of

the Philippines in

the 21st Century:

Helping the Philippines Become Globally Competitive Through

Strategic and Operational Excellence* (Copyright © 2015 by Maria Victoria A. Grageda-Smith & Steven S. Smith)

By Steven S. Smith and Maria Victoria A. Grageda-Smith

Introduction:

Presentation structure

• What are the key factors that will increase the Philippines’ global competitiveness?

• World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitive Index (GCI)

• How can U.P. help the Philippines become more globally competitive?

• Strategic excellence

• Operational excellence

• Examine some highlights of U.P.’s current program of action.

What is Global

“Competitiveness”?

• the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the

level of productivity of a country*

• level of productivity, in turn, sets the level of prosperity

that can be reached by an economy

• productivity level also determines the rates of return

obtained by investments in an economy, which in turn are

the fundamental drivers of its growth rates**

• World Economic Forum measures global competiveness

through a Global Competitive Index based on 12 pillars.

Sustainable Development &

Sustainable Competitiveness

• Sustainable development: development that meets the

needs of the present without compromising the

ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

• definition captures dimensions of development that go

beyond the usual boundaries of economic growth in

order to include both the tangible & intangible

necessities of life.

• Sustainable competitiveness: places more emphasis

on the importance of productivity as a driver of

prosperity and long-term growth

Measuring global competitiveness :

The 12 pillars of the World Economic Forum

(WEF) global competitive index (GCI)

1. Institutions

2. Infrastructure

3. Macroeconomic environment

4. Health and primary education

5. Higher education and training

6. Goods market efficiency

7. Labor market efficiency

8. Financial market development

9. Technological readiness

10. Market size

11. Business sophistication

12. Innovation

WEF’s GCI Framework

Subindex Weights & Income

Thresholds for stages of

development

Philippines’ Key Indicators

Countries’ Stages of

Development

Philippines' 2014-2015 GCI

Report Card

Philippines’ GCI Analysis &

Summary 1

• Up seven places, the Philippines (52nd) continues its upward trend. The country’s gain of 33 places since 2010 is the largest over that period among all countries studied.

• The results suggest that the reforms of the past four years have bolstered the country’s economic fundamentals. The trends across most of the 12 pillars are positive, and in some cases truly remarkable.

• In the institutions pillar (67th), the Philippines has leapfrogged some 50 places since 2010. In particular, there are signs that the efforts made against corruption have started bearing fruit: in terms of ethics and corruption, the country has moved from 135th in 2010 to 81st this year.

• The recent success of the government in tackling some of the most pressing structural issues provides evidence that bold reforms can yield positive results relatively quickly. A similar pattern is observed in terms of government efficiency (69th) and the protection of property rights (63rd).

Philippines’ GCI Analysis &

Summary 2

• Finally, the Philippines has made significant strides in terms of

technological adoption (69th, up eight). The country is one of

the best digitally connected developing Asian nations, close

behind Malaysia (60th) and Thailand (65th).

• The same cannot be said of infrastructure, however, which

remains poor (91st), especially with respect to airport (108th) and

seaport (101st) infrastructure. The situation is just as worrisome in

the labor market, which suffers from rigidities and

inefficiencies: the Philippines ranks a mediocre 91st in this

dimension and almost no progress has been made since 2010.

• Finally, security remains an issue (89th), in particular in terms of

costs that the threat of terrorism imposes on businesses (110th).

Philippines’ Greatest

Problems for Doing Business

Philippines’ GCI

Requirements

Fifth pillar: Higher

education and training

• Quantity of education

• Quality of education

• On-the-job training

Sixth pillar: Goods market

efficiency

• intensity of domestic and foreign

competition

• quality of demand conditions

Seventh pillar: Labor

market efficiency

• labor market efficiency and

flexibility

• meritocracy

• gender parity in the workplace

• efficient use of talent

Eighth pillar: Financial

market development

Financial and banking system must have:

• efficiency

• stability

• trustworthiness

Ninth pillar: Technological

readiness

• measures the agility with which an economy

adopts existing technologies to enhance the

productivity of its industries

• specific emphasis on fully leveraging

information and communication

technologies (ICTs) in daily activities and

production processes for increased efficiency

and enabling innovation for competitiveness.

Tenth pillar: Market size

• Domestic market size

• Foreign market size

A “globally competitive”

Philippines

• Higher

education

and

training

• Goods

market

efficiency

• Labor

market

efficiency

• Financial

market

dev’t

• Tech

readiness

• Market

size

Leadership

Integrity +

Political will!

a “great” University for a

globally competitive Philippines.

AGILE*:

• Approach:

multi/interdis

cip-linary

• Global

expertise

network

• Innovative

process &

technology

• Leadership &

Political Will

• Efficient use

& dev’t of

extensive

knowledge

base

S E

O P

Strategic Excellence

Operational Excellence

Dual Elements of Excellence

Strategic Excellence

• Alignment of U.P.’s

core competencies

with Philippine’s GCI

needs

Operational Excellence

• Efficiency Tools

Strategic Excellence: Philippines’

GCI Requirements*

Goods market

efficiency

Higher education

& training

Labor market

efficiency

Financial market dev’t

Market size

Techno-logical

readiness

U.P.’s core competencies

Leadership & Public Service

R & D*

Education

Alignment of

U.P.’s core competencies with

Philippines’ GCI requirements

U.P.’s

core

com-

peten-

cies

R.P.’s

key GCI

require-

ments

Global

Competitiveness

U.P.’s Vision for Strategic and

Operational Excellence

h2 realize u.P.’s vision

• H2 make U.P. “a great university, taking a leadership role in the development of a globally competitive Philippines”?

• U.P. as a “think-tank” for Philippine governance & public policy development and implementation to fulfill key factors to transition Philippines to greater global competitiveness

Strategic excellence: U.P.

Charter as Mission statement

Strategic Excellence: U.P. as

Philippines’ Leadership

“Think-Tank”

Define U.P.’s area of influence and control in affecting Philippine national goals & policies:

• Assess U.P. Charter goals vis-a-vis Philippine national goals

• Assess & develop partnership with Philippine government:

• create opportunities to inform & affect Philippine government policy &implementation

• Assess & develop collaborations with private sector investors and entrepreneurs

Strategic Excellence: Educating

Philippine’s largest & most crucial

resource—Filipinos!

• EE vs. ER mentality*

• Educating for the next level**

• The problem of “brain-drain”***

• Global positioning of Philippine talent****

• The role of language: Filipino vs. English*****

Strategic Excellence:

Democratizing Student

Population 1

Strategic Excellence:

Democratizing Student

Population 2

Strategic Excellence:

Democratizing Student

Population 3

• Need to substantially address poverty issues: Democratizing

student population goes hand-in-hand with democratizing

economic opportunities for all Filipinos

• H2 bridge gap between extreme wealth and extreme poverty by

building a bigger and stronger middle class

• U.P. School of Economics & U.P. Law Center: H2 translate

research and knowledge into effective Philippine economic

policy, legislation & implementation *

Technology

Technology

Achieving Operational

Excellence

Efficiency “Tools”

Technology

Organizational

Efficiency

Span of

Control

RACI

Process

Efficiency

Brown Paper

Gantt Chart

Leaky Pipes

Technology Efficiency

Technology Stack

Workflow

Rules Engine

Brown Paper: Documenting

the Process

Who

Activity 1

Activity 2

Who

Activity 3

Activity 4

Who

Activity 5

Activity 6

Decision Yes

No

1. Follow the “paper”

2. Attach actual forms or web site pages

3. Don’t enter into computer

4. Identify activity duration (range & mode)

5. Identify process duration (range & mode)

6. Quantify “Leaky Pipes”

“Recent” Technology & Implications

for Process Conformity

Who

Activity 1

Activity 2

Who

Activity 3

Activity 4

Who

Activity 5

Activity 6

Decision Ye

s

N

o

Workflow ensures

conforming to a process

with zero tolerance for

exceptions.

Rules Engine ensures quick

& consistent decisions with

explanation.

RACI: Roles & Responsibilities

Activity 1

Activity 2

Decision 1

Activity 3

Activity 4

Activity 5

Activity 6

RACI: Vertical &

Horizontal Review

1. Exactly 1

“Accountable”

2. At least 1

“Responsible”

1. Too many “Accountable?”

2. Too many “Responsible?”

3. If someone is only

“Consult” or “Inform”

for all activities, are they

really necessary for this

process?

Too many squares filled?

• How to change

“Responsible” to “Consult”?

• How to change “Consult” to

“Inform”?

• How to eliminate “Inform”?

Greatest challenges in effecting

transformative change

• Transcending tradition

• Political will of top leadership

• Communication

• Overcoming “group think” of subsidiary

leaders and groups

Conclusion & Summary

• Strategic excellence: focus on U.P.’s core competencies that contribute most to fulfilling Philippines’ GCI requirements to catapult Philippines to next stage of global competiveness

• Operational excellence: practice vital change management & efficiency tools