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C O N T E N T S
2....p-Watch—USA3....Comment board4....Productivity methodologies, tools, andtechniques4....p-Glossary on the APO Web site5....Localizing the Toyota ProductionSystem6....Harvard proessor speaks onproductivity measurement andnational accounts6....Cultivating productivity practitionersin Arica7....Program calendar7....APO/NPO update7....Photo report7....Promoting Green Productivity and energy efciency 8....APO Alumni Association o India8....Corporate eco-network under theGreen Productivity umbrella
APO
news
Information to Make a Difference in Productivity
 Volume 39 Number 2 February 2009
 p. 6, Special lecture, Japan p. 8, GPAC meeting, Japan p. 5, Training course, Japan
 Printed on Recycled Paper
Saeguarding ood quality and saety in the Asia-Pacifc region
(Continued on page 5)
“P
roductivity without saety is meaningless in today’s world, and in increasing productivity we must protect our workers and consumers,” APO Secretary-General Shigeo Takenaka declared in his statement at the annualWorkshop Meeting o Heads o NPOs held in Cambodia in October 2008. The APO attaches great importanceto the linkage between saety and productivity and devotes substantial resources to promoting the saety o workers and products, particularly ood products, in the Asia-Pacic region. Food quality and saety are a major ocus o the APO’s Agri-culture Program.“Food saety has receivedgreater attention rom the APOas consumers have becomeincreasingly concerned aboutood saety,” explained Agri-culture Department Director Song Hyun Choi. “Both devel-oped and developing countriesshare concern over ood saetyas international ood tradeand cross-border movementso people and live animalsincrease.” The global, multidi-mensional nature o this issueis clear rom a series o recentincidents including outbreakso avian infuenza and bovine spongiorm encephalitis (BSE or mad cow disease) and tainted milk rom PR China. The so-cioeconomic benets o ood saety measures include prevention o ood-borne illnesses, savings in disease prevention andmitigation expenditures, and increased worker productivity.The APO’s ood saety ocus now includes ood saety management systems, ood standards and certication systems, goodagricultural practices, packaging and labeling, traceability systems, value addition, ood chain management, and oods or which health claims are made. Training courses are designed and implemented to supplement the eorts o governments, public and private organizations, and ood companies in member countries. They acilitate preventive, proactive methodswith the ultimate goal o increased productivity through ood saety.A popular ood saety training course deals with ISO22000:2005. This internationally harmonized ood saety standard wasdeveloped by International Organization or Standardization (ISO) or global ood supply chains rom armers to caterers.The standard is certiable and auditable. “The training courses on ISO22000:2005 enable participants to understand thestandard, its requirements and applications, and easy ways o implementation,” said Agriculture Department Program O-cer Dr. Muhammad Saeed. Dr. Saeed conducts projects on ood saety, including the e-learning course on ISO22000:2005initiated in 2007. The e-learning course attracted 258 participants in 2007 and 278 in 2008.
Simulated ood audit, training course, Malaysia, 2009
 
APO News
 
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February 009
W 
ith rising unemployment and the coun-try in recession, productivity igureswill not be a cause or celebration inthe oreseeable uture. Productivity growth willrefect increased demands on a dwindling number o employees, rather than a more ecient use o capital and human resources. The global economiccrisis will put survival beore productivity con-cerns. One key to emerging rom the economicrecession successully, however, will be how wellmanagement can create a context or energizinglabor behind a productivity agenda that prioritizesgeneral welare, a viable healthcare system, andtransparent decision-making processes. Produc-tivity campaigns lacking these goals will ail torally a skeptical workorce. Business and labor initiatives that ail to include the broader socialcontext o productivity will likely all short o expectations.
“The auto companieswere stuck in a timewarp where productivityin itself was the onlymeasurement of success.”
The US automobile industry provides an excel-lent example o improved productivity that in theend ailed both the companies and the employees because productivity improvements operated in asocial void. The CEOs o the big three US auto-makers lew to Washington, DC, in their private jets to plead or a taxpayer bailout o their indus-try. This display o conspicuous consumption ina recessionary economy undercut their pleas or help. The CEOs’ behavior smacked o executivehubris and violated an emerging set o populistvalues which has ound a voice in the recent elec-tion o ormer Senator Barack Obama to the US presidency.When the CEO o Ford Motor Co. was asked bythe congressional committee considering the bail-out o the auto industry whether he considered hiscompensation o more than US$21million exces-sive and i he might voluntarily reduce it under the bailout plan, he replied, “No, I think I’m OK where I am.” (Banks receiving bailout unds paidtheir nearly 600 executives approximately US$1.6 billion in compensation.) Under the circum-stances, that certainly was the wrong answer. The private jet episode and this insensitivity towardexecutive compensation created a wave o popular and congressional protest. A change o heart wasevident when the congressional hearings recon-vened a week later. The CEOs drove themselvesrom Detroit to Washington, DC, in uel-ecientvehicles and upon receiving bailout monies agreedto salaries o US$1 per year: message received.The CEOs seemingly held a trump card in thosehearings. That trump card was the claim that theUS auto industry had attained a productivity levelequal to Japanese automakers and this would re-sult in the uture protability o their companies.The belie that the US auto industry had only to beas productive as its oreign competitors to prosper and regain a dominant share o the market waswidespread. The CEOs were taken aback whenthis achievement was brushed aside as almost in-consequential. What turned out to be more impor-tant was the automakers’ disregard or developingcars with low emissions (environmentally riendly)and greater uel eiciency (contributing to USenergy independence). The auto companies werestuck in a time warp where productivity in itsel was the only measurement o success. A broader agenda, encompassing more than productivitylevels, is now becoming the yardstick or success.Perhaps the biggest hurdle to proitability andincreased worker productivity lies in the inadequa-cies o the US healthcare system. Over 40 millionAmericans lack health insurance coverage. Manyo those who have health insurance nd the costsexorbitant and voluntarily opt out o their medi-cal plans. Catastrophic illness in a amily is otenat the root o personal bankruptcies and homeoreclosures. Worries over long-term illness andinadequate healthcare services cut deeply intotime and energy that could otherwise be directedto more productive days in the oice or on theactory foor. The cost o employee healthcare has proved debilitating to the auto manuacturers andmay still bankrupt the industry (General Motorscarries a US$47 billion healthcare obligation),not to mention the tremendous burden placed onsmall and medium-sized companies. Healthcarecosts have eroded the competitive edge o UScompanies over the past decade. The economicvibrancy o the country cannot be restored, nor can improved productivity rates have the desired benecial eects, i the healthcare crisis is not ad-dressed aggressively.
“The current recessionprovides an opportunityfor businesses to readjustto the new realities.”
Many attribute the current national inancialcalamity to a ailure o government regulatoryagencies to enorce rules o transparency amonginancial and banking institutions. The use o arcane inancial instruments in the hands o un-scrupulous inancial managers has destroyed thedreams o millions o Americans. Workers’ pen-sions and savings have plummeted in value. Theregulatory system ailed, and it will take years tounravel the mess while the country and the worldcontend with economic recession. Global coopera-tion to prevent urther collapse may turn out to bethe silver lining o this near-catastrophic event.The turbulence has temporarily driven the impor-tance o productivity into the background. At thesame time, it provides the productivity movementwith a hiatus to realign its message and methodswith broader social and economic goals that inthe long run will strengthen and urther legitimizenational productivity eorts.
p-Watch—USA 
Productivity: getting the context right
 
APO News
 
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February 009
Comment board
Operation & Maintenance Manager
 Lim Aun Siong 
 , Genting Sanyen Power Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia.
Participant, training o trainers in Green Produc-tivity and Energy Eciency, Kish Island, IR Iran,15–19 November 2008.
“My initial aim in attending this project was toacquire training rom the resource speakers in iden-tiying and implementing energy efciency projects.On Kish Island, not only were these objectives ul-flled, but also all participants benefted rom variousother perspectives. The site visit to Kish Water and Power Company heightenedour ability to spot energy-saving opportunities. The strong bonds developedamong participants, all o whom were rom dierent proessions, organizations,and countries, also created a sturdy network o energy conservation-consciousindividuals. We will communicate and share Green Productivity inormation and practices within this circle, together with the APO. On the last day o this short program, an examination recapitulated and reiterated the undamentals o thetraining course topics. It was one o the major ocal points that kept us enthusedand stimulated throughout the fve-day course.”
Chie o the Fishery Industry Development Support Division
 Dr. Pilar F. Fontelar 
 , Department o Agriculture, Philippines.
Participant, training course on Food Saety Management or Seaood Process-ing and Marketing, Republic o China, 17–22 November 2008.“I ound the program very inormative and helpul since it gave me a clear  panoramic view o globalization, especially what it requires rom ishery- based micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs when adopting new conceptso ood saety management or seaood processing and marketing. The lack o knowledge and understanding o this subject has become the main constraint inmaking those SMEs competitive and getting Philippine sh and shery prod-ucts to the global market. All the inormation and knowledge rom the course,thereore, will be a great resource or my urther research and policy proposals.In 2001, I took part in the APO multicountry study mission on Marine ProductMarketing held in Japan. Based on what I learned then, I conducted action re-search that has blossomed into the Pinoy Fishmart Multi-Purpose Cooperative(PFMPC) which networks local shing communities or collective marketingo their sh and shery products. To date, the PFMPC has approximately 400member communities nationwide.”
 Director
 Dr. Insook Jeong 
 , Employment Statistics Division, Korea National Statistical Ofce.
 National Expert, Coordination Meeting on Research on Productivity Improve-ment in the Inormal Sector, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1–3 December 2008.“I eel that the sheer size o the inormal employment sector and its contribu-tion to the national economy make it worth attempting to measure statisticallyin Korea. This research is timely since the issue o inormal employment,which is oten characterized as having low wages, low skills, and weak jobsecurity, is very important, especially in the current socioeconomic context o Korea. This is because the recent global economic recession drives employeesrom ormal-sector jobs on the verge o shrinkage and worsens occupational polarization in that limited options are available to people disadvantaged in thelabor market such as women, youths, and the elderly. During the coordinationmeeting, experts were able to give due attention to the statistical measurementissues in the inormal sector and identiy common ground or internationalcomparisons in the Asian region. It helped me greatly in laying out the statisti-cal work that needs to be done or a clear understanding o this indispensablesector in Korea.”
The public is demanding greater transparency in decisions that aect the qual-ity o their lives. More specically, rms must embrace the concept that more public scrutiny and transparency are good or business. The willingness to participate in a public dialogue will keep rms rom embarking on misguidedinitiatives that harm the public good and thereby threaten a company’s prot-ability and longevity.Opportunities to participate in the public dialogue are ast increasing or  businesses. Personalizing the message in both directions, rom customers tocompany and company to customers, through YouTube, Facebook, Googlesearches, and blogs will keep companies ocused on their market, not as CEOs perceive the market, but as the market really exists. The process will also serveto align business strategies and goals with the broader public interest. This har-monization o private-sector and public interest will carry with it the promiseo higher productivity as business success and prots accrue to all strata o so-ciety. Companies that ail to encourage transparency, reuse to participate in a public dialogue over priorities, and ignore or support unethical practices inviteurther government regulation that will stife innovation and productivity.The current recession provides an opportunity or businesses to readjust to thenew realities. This opportunity, sometimes reerred to by economists as “crea-tive destruction,” will shape a national and global economy signicantly di-erent rom the one that existed at the start o the new century. How might thisnew reality impact the USA? We may nd the USA launching a new nationalelixir labeled “socialism lite.”
Michael Manson had a long and close association with the APO when he was the Assistant Director of the East-West Center’s Institute of Economic Development and Politics in Honolulu. He helped to initiate a number of collaboration programs between the APO and the East-West Center. Manson also served in the Asian Development Bank and was Director of Communications with the State of Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. He is presently an educator.
Michael Manson
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