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The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce is looking to organise a new awards ceremony to highlight success stories of collaboration between big and small firms in raising productivity.
Nominees for the award will be shortlisted from companies which have participated in the Government’s Partnerships for Capability Transformation programme, which looks to encourage the positive transfer of expertise and know-how from large to small companies.
I guess this is good ground up initiative to get companies to work together to boost productivity.
Outgoing Labour Chief Lim Swee Say has always pushed firms to increase their productivity to help boost wages of workers sustainably.
So with business associations helping to get businesses to collaborate, hopefully the productivity push which the Government and the union movement have been pushing for will work.
But somehow, the Ministry of Manpower needs to continue to push companies harder to take on productivity initiatives.
If what Lim says is true, that increasing productivity is the only way to boost wages sustainably, then all the more the Government should work with companies to boost productivity.
Perhaps they should explore introducing more funds, incentives or programmes that help firms, big or small, to boost productivity.
Some weeks back, Nanyang Polytechnic launched a new programme on productivity. While I’m glad that such a course is finally being launched to help our local students develop a knack for productivity.
However, I learnt that the course is only available to final-year business students numbering about 1,000. It should be open to students pursuing other courses such as engineering, IT, etc.
Productivity is not confined to just business management, but in fact, in a whole gamut of areas. So the course should be made available to students from the other faculties as well.
If productivity is the name of the game, then I feel that more should be done on the part of the government to make it work.
[plinker]
