Neoliberalism is a policy model that encompasses both politics and economics. It favors private enterprise and seeks to transfer the control of economic factors from the government to the private sector.
Many neoliberal policies concern the efficient functioning of free market capitalism and focus on limiting government spending, government regulation, and public ownership.
The vision and goals that most business owners have for their business is to make profit. We must realise though that making money is not a goal at all, it is a result. A goal is to make a difference, to make things better than they were yesterday, to make a contribution to society, to provide better services. Setting the right goals and working hard towards achieving them will eventually result in a successful business and making a profit. And so it is important for any business owner to have a clear vision and to have realistic goals. All activities being carried out in the business should contribute to these goals. Organizing, planning, managing, production and budgeting are all done to achieve the goals of the company. If you have no clear vision and goal for your business, chances are that you will not be successful. Developing a vision and goals is not easy though and often they are derived from the values we have. Values represent what we find really important in life and surprisingly enough very few people will find it easy to define exactly what their values are. But most people act according to their values even if they are not very conscious about it. After all, where your treasure is, there your heart will be. If someone finds it very important to have a car (s)he will try and get one. The reader who has built a house, will know how difficult it was to complete the project but it was worth it because it was very important. Other people find it important to be around their family and because of it hesitate to take on a job that will separate them from their family. Other examples of values are to have respect for each other, to be honest, integrity, etc. We can also know what people do not find important as we observe their behaviour. Somebody who finds it important to get rich quick but does not value honesty or hard work for example will find other innovative ways to get the money. In other words, our values guide our behaviour for a great deal. Do you know what your values are? Try to list and write them down and you will discover that it is not so easy to have a deeper look into your inner self. But if you can, it will help you in getting more clarity about your do’s and don’ts. Now, what has all this to do with doing business? Personal goals and values will transpire in the way somebody goes about running a business as well. Somebody who values honesty is likely to run the business in an honest way, avoiding short cuts and kick backs. Personal values can thus become corporate values and it is actually very important and helpful to make corporate values explicit like so many organizations do these days. Examples of corporate values are: “We esteem our customers.”, “We produce high quality.”, “We deliver in time.”, “We keep our promises.”
In trying to achieve the goals it is therefore important that the corporate values are adhered to. Here it becomes now tricky though. Because the corporate values may be clear to the business owner or the board of directors, that does not at all mean that they are understood, let alone internalised by the employees. And where this is not so, performance of workers may be disappointing, not contributing to achieving results and sometimes even be counterproductive. This in its turn will lead to much frustration for the business owner, who just cannot understand the behaviour of the workers and has run out of ideas to motivate them. As a result the company is not effective in achieving its result. For a company to be effective it is important that the goals and values are shared and internalised by all staff and time and energy needs to be invested in this by management. But this is not all that needs to be done. Subscribing to the corporate values helps but is not enough to become effective. To be effective requires being proactive and that is what most people are not, also not in Ethiopia. Most people here are reactive. They react to what is coming their way. They don’t plan ahead and blame others for things gone wrong. They say: “I don’t have time.” They are busy repairing the damage that has been done and they are constantly in the crisis management mode.
Proactive people on the other hand plan ahead and take responsibility. They say: “How can I help?” They prevent problems from happening and set the right priorities. Reactive people allow circumstances to dictate their agenda while proactive people set the agenda. And they do that using their personal values as a point of departure. To take it a step further, for employees to be effective in their work it is important that there is a match between their personal and the corporate values. Where there is no such match, workers will not make significant contributions to corporate effectiveness.
Yes, somebody with an accounting diploma or degree can work in any company or organization. But whether or not (s)he will make significant effective contributions depends on how excited that accountant is about the products that the company makes and in how far (s)he subscribes to the corporate values. If “high quality” is one of the corporate values then delivering high quality and timely financial reports to management will be expected. If a company says that it esteems its customers, then the sales persons are expected to be polite and give competent advice to the clients.
During this festive season, I suggest the reader to take some time to reflect on values and the potential to be proactive. Do the following exercise:
Ton Haverkort
Businesses are the engine of the economy. They contribute to economic and social development through job creation, development of skills and technology, and the provision of goods and services. At the same time, business activities can have adverse impacts on people, the environment and society. All business, regardless of their location, size, sector, operational context, ownership and structure, should act responsibly, and identify and manage risks of impacts linked to their operations, products or services, including in their supply chains and other business relationships. Governments should encourage responsible business behaviour through a smart mix of mandatory and voluntary measures, and support the creation of an enabling environment conducive to responsible business practices.
In order to promote the positive contribution that businesses can make to sustainable development and help prevent and address negative impacts, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN), have developed instruments that provide guidance on responsible business. These instruments establish that all companies have the responsibility to avoid and address adverse impacts with which they are involved, including in their supply chains, while making a positive contribution to the economic, environmental and social progress of the countries in which they operate. The implementation of international corporate responsibility standards have also become essential for business aiming to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The three main instruments that have become the key reference points for responsible business, and which outline how companies can act responsibly are the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (ILO MNE Declaration), the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD MNE Guidelines) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles). They are aligned with, and complement, each other.
The ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy provides guidance to encourage the positive contributions companies can make to economic and social progress and to minimise and resolve difficulties in their operations. The principles addressed to business reflect good practice for all enterprises. The ILO MNE Declaration also provides policy guidance to governments as well as employers’ and workers’ organizations, which play central and distinctive roles in creating an enabling environment for responsible business.
Its recommendations on employment, training, conditions of work and life, and industrial relations are based on international labour standards, including the fundamental Conventions underpinning the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which addresses forced labour, child labour, non-discrimination and freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are recommendations from governments to businesses on how to act responsibly. They cover all areas of business responsibility, including labour and human rights issues, environment, disclosure, bribery, consumer interests, science and technology, competition, and taxation. The Guidelines were adopted in 1976 and last updated in 2011 to include a chapter on human rights aligned with the UN Guiding Principles. The chapter on Employment and Industrial Relations is aligned with ILO labour standards. The Guidelines also include a unique non-judicial grievance mechanism: National Contact Points (NCPs).
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights focus on avoiding and addressing adverse business-related human rights impact. They are founded on three pillars. The first one stipulates the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business enterprises, while the second one indicates the independent responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights, which means that they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved. The third one deals the need for those harmed by business-related activities to have access to effective remedy.
These principles were unanimously endorsed in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council. The instruments developed by the ILO, OECD and UN set the global expectations for responsible business conduct and are aligned and complement each other. Each organisation brings its own value-added to their implementation, based on its mandate and expertise.
International corporate responsibility standards set the expectation that all companies, regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership and structure– avoid and address the adverse impacts with which they are involved, and contribute to the sustainable development of the countries in which they operate. The instruments set out that impact of business activities is understood beyond the impact on the company itself and refers to the impact business activities may have on human rights, including labour rights, the environment and society, both positive and negative. The instruments establish a common understanding that enterprises can cause, contribute to, or be directly linked to adverse impacts through operations, products or services by business relationships, and they provide a framework for how enterprises should avoid and address them.
Businesses should undertake due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate their actual and potential negative impacts and account for how those impacts are addressed. This process should involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders. With respect to labour rights, consultation with workers’ organisations is particularly important. By helping companies understand the impacts of their activities and by clarifying the expectations around due diligence, these international instruments guide companies on what they should do in order to know and show that they are behaving responsibly.
Responsible business covers not only impacts that a company may cause or contribute to through its own activities but also those impacts directly linked to an enterprise’s operations, products or services through its business relationships. This includes: business partners, entities in the value chain such as subsidiaries, suppliers, franchisees, licensees, joint ventures, investors, clients, contractors, customers, consultants, financial, legal and other advisers, and any other non-State or State entities.
As part of their duty to protect against business-related adverse impacts, States are expected to take appropriate steps to ensure, through judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate means, that when such abuses occur within their territory and/or jurisdiction those affected have access to effective remedy. In addition, where companies identify that they have caused or contributed to adverse impacts, they are expected to address them through providing remedy, and they should provide for or cooperate in this remediation through legitimate processes.
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) established a vegetable and moringa garden in the Yaloufoiram village of Niger, where 100 women will engage in the production.
Communities residing especially in rural areas of Zinder, one of the regions most affected by acute drought cases in Niger, make their living from agriculture and animal husbandry.
Negatively affected by climate change, Zinder has a large population since it is located on the border with Nigeria and has vital trade routes.
The government of Niger encourages the establishment of agricultural production facilities in the region to meet the nutritional needs of the growing population and to ensure the food security of the region. Women play a significant role in agricultural production processes, as they do in every aspect of life in the country.
Vegetable and moringa production garden
TİKA established a vegetable and moringa production garden for 100 women members of Yaloufoiram Women’s Group, who are engaged in agriculture in the Yaloufoiram village of Dogo, in Zinder, to earn their living, contribute to the supply chain of the region, and to increase agricultural production capacity of the region.
The garden, spanning a total area of 3 hectares, features 2 water wells and a water tank powered by solar energy panels, California-type irrigation systems, material warehouses and necessary agricultural equipment.
The moringa plant, well-known for its rapid growth and high consumption in Niger, is anticipated to generate income in a short period through its industrial production.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
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