The quest for improving competitiveness has become the Holy Grail of countries seeking to accelerate economic growth and improve their prospects for creating wealth.

The factors that affect competitiveness are often discussed in business schools, the media and, occasionally, in political forums. But one element that undoubtedly has an impact on national competitiveness is rarely discussed. I am referring to the impact of culture on national competitiveness.

The Prime Minister recently referred to the need to foster a culture where our businesses aim to excel in what they do and not be content with mediocrity. The mindset that is succinctly depicted in the Maltese phrase ‘basta tinqeda’ which is roughly translated into “it is acceptable to do just enough to get by” is threatening our prospects to excel in what we do.

Culture has become an essential factor in understanding how competing organisations achieve divergent business results. At the organisational level one has to acknowledge that business leaders can have access to the same information and the same technology to bridge the gap as their more successful competitors. But few can argue against the reality that a healthy organisational culture is one of the biggest competitive advantages that will differentiate successful businesses from the rest.

Yet many business leaders, when faced with increasing competitive threats, often resort to marketing, technology and finance to regain their competitiveness. Promoting a healthy culture – one that values high employee morale, high productivity, minimal confusion, minimal politics, and low turnover – is a far more effective tool to enhance competitiveness.

At a national level, the importance of culture is no less critical. Culture permeates every corner of our society. It influences our behaviour, the way we think, our aspirations and expectations and what we are prepared to do, or not do, to achieve our objectives. Culture has been described as “a mould in which we are cast, and it controls our daily lives in many unsuspected ways”. Another good description is that “culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group of people from another”.

These definitions give us an indication of why some countries have better performing economies than others. Some aspects of culture are visible: language; behaviour; and food. Other aspects are unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings. It is these latter elements that form the core of every culture. In business we need to understand the basic assumptions made by our society to determine whether they are helping us to improve our national competitiveness.

We need to scrutinise our cultural traits not only from an anthropological and sociological perspective, but also from an economic one, if we are to use our culture to become more successful in the economic field.

Many who are fully capable of fending for themselves still try to exploit the social system that was meant to support those who cannot support themselves

I find, for instances, that after 50 years of independence many of us still foster a culture of dependence on others to save us from the consequences of our own negligence, lack of enterprise and indolence. Many who are fully capable of fending for themselves still try to exploit the social system that was meant to support those who cannot support themselves. Sociologists would probably label most of us as ‘individualists’ – people who put their own interests and those of their families ahead of the interest of others.

Many of us have a low-risk appetite. We want our politicians and business leaders to cushion us from the risks and uncertainties that are inherent in today’s economy. We often feel threatened by uncertain and unknown events. We often insist on laws and standards that structure our lives and help us avoid future uncertainty.

Yet history has shown that the nations that were most successful at an economic level were those who fostered what sociologists call ‘frontierism’ – a neologism that defines “a mindset to innovate, invent, and invest in building a more certain future. It is the willingness to change and to create something better in order to avoid future uncertainties”.

This mindset was clearly evident among 19th-century American pioneers who did not shy away from taking great risks in the hope of building a new life in the unknown wilderness. Even today we have first-hand experience of how desperate people in Africa are prepared to risk all they have, including their lives, to live a decent life in Europe.

Our business schools should give more importance to the study of culture, both at the organisational and national level, to understand how this element impacts on our competitiveness.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com

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