THE ROLE OF BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS
IN
PACIFIC ISLAND ECONOMIC GROWTH
November 9-12, 1999
Wailea, Maui,
Hawaii
Discuss the major strengths of your associations. In what ways are these strengths important to the growth and development of your group? What are the major challenges faced by your associations and can you offer suggestions to help overcome them. Discuss the resources you have found to be especially helpful in improving your association.
Moderator: Mike Brook
Rapporteur: Bill Paupe
Participants: Mike Brook - Fiji Chamber of Commerce; Paul de Villers - UN-ESCAP, Vanuatu; Yann Pitollet - ADECAL, New Caledonia; Jerry Hirata - SBA, Hawaii; Lee Weimer - The Weimer Collaborative, California; Aivu Tauvasa - South Pacific Trade Commission, Australia; Norman Wetzell - Apia Concrete Products, Samoa; Paul Rehob - The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; Robert Fujii - Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce; Jerry Finin - East-West Center, Hawaii; Kirtley Pinho - Majuro Chamber of Commerce, RMI.
Yann Pitollet began the discussion by noting that New Caledonia's Chamber was recognized by law as a body to deal with the community and with government, thus giving the association national representation status for the entire community in dealing with government agencies and departments. He noted that, under the French system, membership by the private sector was mandatory. He also said that a principal strength of the association was the fact that it had government financing, thereby freeing the Chamber from the need to raise initial funding, and that since membership was not voluntary, the Chamber was free from the need to expend funds to solicit members.
Norman Wetzell said that the strengths of his Samoan association were the enthusiasm of its staff, and the fact that a number of chamber board members sat on Government advisory boards and panels.
The strengths of the Hawaii Chamber included its legislative lobbying programs, as well as its use of advisory teams to assist industries in improving their efficiency and product output. Paul Rehob noted that some possible weaknesses of the Chamber were its relatively small staff and the perception in the community that the Chamber served only "big business".
Jerry Hirata mentioned that the Hawaii Chamber was its taking advantage of SBA's information dissemination programs, thereby giving the Chamber additional outlets for getting its service messages to the general public.
The Majuro Chamber has had success in interacting with government agencies and departments, and with its ability to place Chamber members on the boards of government-owned enterprises. Kirtley Pinho said that an important initiative of the Chamber was its success in influencing government-owned enterprise managers to maintain separate business bank accounts, thereby avoiding the mixing of those funds with government accounts, which gave the government the opportunity to divert funds to its general account. The Majuro Chamber has also been successful in pressuring government to reduce tariffs on certain imported consumer commodities, and in general, has been able to raise the community's voice in the Legislature.
Mike Brook of the Fiji Chamber said they have several high-profile private sector managers in position as officers in the Chamber, thereby raising awareness of the Chamber considerably among the general population. He said that the Chamber had targeted the rural sector for economic development project assistance. He noted that weaknesses of the Fiji Chamber included the fact that it had only 12 other members and no individual private enterprise members; that Chamber membership was completely voluntary; and that they had no paid Secretariat. He also noted the danger of single individual's dominance in an organization with a voluntary membership.
MAJOR CHALLENGES
The Hawaii Chamber's major challenges were Hawaii's nine year recession, and a State government which fought privatization, while at the same time expanding the government bureaucracy. It was noted that this challenge was common in other South Pacific countries, as well as competition between politicians and private business owners — where politicians challenged Chamber initiatives when those organizations attempted to assist private sector development projects and expansion of the small business community.
Another common problem in the Pacific region was the Chamber's difficulty in defining its role in the face of politicians' perception that such a role belonged to them.
The Samoa Chamber's principal challenge was influencing the legislators to take such initiatives as reducing tariffs on essential and popular imported consumer goods, and to promote government programs to assist in the development of the private sector.
Lee Weimer had observed a number of Chambers challenging their members to establish ethical guidelines in order to demonstrate to the community that the Chamber holds its members to certain standards, thereby significantly improving the image of the Chamber organizations.
A particular challenge to the Chamber in Majuro resulted from the fact that during the early years of the Marshall Islands development, after World War II, positions of leadership in the government and the private sector went to those with proficiency in the English language. Therefore, opportunities for such positions were denied to the poorer and less educated sectors of the population. This resulted in long-term tenure by these leaders, who did not keep abreast of modern technology and management methods. The Chamber had been able to influence changes by supporting training and orientation programs for students and young people in the private sector, and encouraging them to compete for leadership positions.
Another area-wide issue was that the Chambers needed to break down the public perception that they catered only to "big business". In the past this was a problem for the Hawaii Chamber, but they had since made a significant effort to bring small business owners on to the board, and taken other efforts to address small business concerns.
It was the consensus of the group that the major challenges facing business associations were: image, membership, and financing. It was recommended that business associations increase their interaction with people throughout the community in order to let them know that the business groups were interested in their well-being.
Yann Pitollet suggested that a significant challenge was to address the issue of the Chambers maintaining a Western economic model or a traditional economic model. Chambers could act as a catalyst for discussion of this issue to determine what model is most appropriate for the individual island communities.
Aivu Tauvasa stated emphatically that it was important for all Chambers and other business associations to educate politicians and the general public regarding the fact that economic development and private sector development efforts do not necessarily mean degradation of the culture and the environment. Chambers throughout Micronesia get together annually to discuss these environmental and cultural impact issues. The Majuro Chamber had taken control of the Scholarship Committee, previously dominated by Government bureaucrats, to insure that not only the sons and daughters of the leaders were able to obtain higher education opportunities. He said that this initiative had resulted in the poorer and less privileged to participate in the scholarship awards programs.
The consensus of the group was that resources to be considered include:
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