The Sunday Mail
Edgar Muzvidzwa
To win a war you need a strategy, to win in business you also need a strategy, and equally the same you need a strategy to win in the competition of nations.
The countries that are leading in economic competitiveness are those which have worked with strategists in turning around their economic fortunes. A shining example in Africa is Rwanda, a country that has been working with Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School on a project dubbed “Creating a Competitive Rwanda”.Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School define strategy as “about being different” and adds “it means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.” Zimbabwe needs a clear effective strategy at this juncture where we are faced with the task of rebuilding an economy that has been in doldrums marked by hyperinflation, food shortages, unemployment, de-industrialisation and liquidity challenges.
There is the old adage that you cannot invent a new wheel when it is already there. The need for a national strategy cannot be overemphasized as its neglect is denial to participate competitively on the world economic arena. I had a look at one of the presentations that Professor Porter delivered in 2007 when mapping the way for the creation of the highly competitive Rwanda we are familiar with today.
A number of key areas driving the need to strategise at a national level were cited including the reduction in barriers to trade and investment, increasing stock and diffusion of knowledge, upgrading of competitiveness in many countries, globalization of markets, globalisation of capital markets, globalisation of value chains, increasing knowledge and skill intensity of competition and the migration of value to the service component of the value chain.
The Zimbabwean economy took a nose dive in the early 2000 after a fallout with the international community over its land reform programme which was marked by farm occupations viewed by the latter as gross violations of property rights. The situation was worsened by a polarized political environment which began around the same period and continued to push the country into a dungeon. A lot happened which forced many Zimbabweans leave the country for greener pastures. A number of challenges emerged as the majority of companies that were operating in the country also relocated to neighbouring countries.
Zimbabwe has shown the world its distinct shining character after a peaceful and bloodless political transformation took place at the beginning of November 2017 when the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commanders confronted President Mugabe as the country was about to be plunged into political turmoil due to divisions in the ruling ZANU PF party. People from all backgrounds took to the streets in a peaceful march which bolstered the army actions, and the ruling party was left with no choice but to recall the President from leadership both in the party and government. The former President eventually succumbed to the calls from different fronts and resigned on the 21st of November 2017 and was replaced by President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
The new President has promised re-engagement with the international community and the creation of a lot of jobs for Zimbabweans. He also pointed out that Zimbabwe is home to all who consider themselves Zimbabweans, a statement which gives comfort to the white community in the country who have been in constant fear since the period of the land reform programme. There is no doubt that this is a new era in the politics of Zimbabwe as the name Mugabe was synonymous with the presidency for the past 20 years. However, a lot needs to be done as alluded to above.
One of the major areas of interest at the moment is the need for an effective strategy to attract foreign direct investment. There is need to take a look at our current situation and compare it with other countries in the African region and determine our areas of potential and major on those. We also need to increase our competitiveness. This is the same process that was undertaken by the nation of Rwanda for it to become competitive.
Competitiveness does not come on its own without working towards its achievement. Competitiveness is determined by the productivity with which a nation uses its human, capital and natural resources. Zimbabwe is endowed with a lot of natural resources including mineral resources like diamonds, platinum and gold. Zimbabwe needs to use its mineral resources for the development of the infrastructure than utilizing it in non-investment consumption.
A developed infrastructure works a lot in making a country an attractive destination for foreign direct investment. Productivity sets the standard of living that a nation can sustain. Productivity depends on the prices that a nation’s products and services command which hinges on quality and uniqueness. Productivity requires a combination of domestic and foreign firms operating in the country. This is why we are calling for the powers that be to have effective strategies to attract foreign direct investment into the country.
The statement by IMF that they will send a staff team to assess the situation in Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom’s foreign Secretary’s statement that Britain could provide financing support to the new government to stabilise the economy are sign of thawing relations with the international community.
There is need to stamp up effort to deal with corruption and come up with effective strategies to deal with our internal constrains and bottlenecks.
Zimbabwe already has instituted an Anti-Corruption Commission but it has got to be capacitated to make it an effective body otherwise it cannot perform a significant role as an oversight institution.
Any nation that is serious about democracy needs to have strong oversight institutions. I am convinced that there is a bright future for the country as a lot of lessons were learnt over the last few years.
Edgar Muzvidzwa can be contacted by email on [email protected]
