BARBADOS’ MODEL of development has been cited by a Harvard University professor as one of the best examples in Latin American and Caribbean.
Professor Michael Porter was addressing hundreds of business excutives attending the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business’ Distinguished Leadership And Innovation Conference in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, a week ago.
Porter, whose expertise spans competitive strategy, economic development of nations and regions, and the application of competitiveness principles to social problems, said Barbados has been able to combine a number of important economic and social policies that contributed to making it one of the most competitive in the region.
The Harvard professor said that the entire Caribbean had a number of valuable assets that could increase their competiveness, including location, climate, proximity to North and South America, and the fact that most of the countries were English-speaking.
“These endowments can lead to wealth but the question is how to build on these endowments,” he said.
Among Barbados’ strengths, he said, was its development strategy that not only included economic policies but social initiatives such as its emphasis on the education and health of its citizens.
He cited the country’ fiscal and monetary policies over the years, its rule of law, public services, and low level of corruption and crime as important assets.
According to Porter, “If a business is worrying about corruption and security, then this affects productivity and eventually the standard of living.”
Providing reseach data on the Caribbean, Porter said several countries experienced budget and debt problems, while Human Development Index indicators and governance levels in the region were uneven.
Moreover, the American academic stressed that Caribbean countries needed to “work relentless on corruption” and warned the Trinidadian participants that although the country enjoyed a reasonable level of prosperity, the twin-island republic was “not in the right place when it comes to corruption”.
