Strong performance of economy masking fundamental issues

THE flow of economic information on the performance of the Irish economy has been a source of comfort for the Irish business community in recent times.

However, the reality of Ireland's international competitive position paints a more sombre position with the highly regarded World Economic Forum's Competitiveness Report revealing that Ireland's position has fallen 13 places in the rankings from a high of ninth place in 1992 to 22nd in 1995.

This decline provides the main focus for the Irish Management Institute National Management Conference this week.

The conference aims to appraise the reasons behind the downturn. It will examine Ireland's stance on what the IMI sees as the three drivers of national competitiveness a partnership approach between the public and private sector, technological development and management competence.

In fact, our present strong economic performance is masking some fundamental issues we need to address if we are to continue to increase the wealth of the nation.

We may be on the crest of a wave, but we should remember it is just a few years since the currency turmoil and its associated crisis of confidence. It is a good time to examine the fundamentals and take any necessary action from a position of strength rather than being forced to react when the economic cycle turns down.

Among the issues for discussion, will be what constitutes competitiveness at individual company level. Traditional measures such as size, physical location and market share are being replaced by new determinants such as speed of product development, investment in human capital and operational effectiveness.

Organisations that are nimble, speedy and smart, increasingly thrive over companies that cannot react quickly to market changes. The rise and near fall of some of the world's leading companies, such as IBM and Apple, has revealed how companies that have traditionally lead the charge of the technology driven industrial revolution can fall foul of the emerging new rules of commercial arrangement.

The IMI has not been immune to change and has recently redefined its own approach to conference management. Over the past year, it has undertaken a series of one day conferences around the country.

This followed a rethink after, many years of staging an annual - weekend conference in the luxurious, surroundings of Killarney. The Killarney format brought some criticism in recent years, primarily for its lack of focus.

The IMI has moved with the times and has restructured its conferences to reflect the tighter time frames in which people operate and their desire to debate, and be informed, on the practical issues they face as managers of the heartland of Irish business.

It is evident from recent research that competitiveness is the issue concerning the majority of chief executives in Ireland and will be the crux of corporate change over the next three years. As a result, the IMI has designed this week's conference "to tackle the competitiveness issue head on.

The 300 managers who will attend will hear leading international experts on competitiveness issues such as Mr Klaus Schwab, the president of the World Economic Forum, and Mr Nicholas Negroponte, advisor to governments throughout the world on the digital technology revolution and author of the best selling guide to the information superhighway, Being Digital.

The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, will deliver the keynote address to the conference, which will also be addressed by the assistant secretary of the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Mr Kevin Bonner, and the chief executive of Telecom Eireann, Mr Alfie Kane.