The companies in Pakistan are doing well performance wise but the negativity about the economy is not understandable and should not be there, said Syed Mohammad Shabbar Zaidi.
Shabbar Zaidi, who presided over the Management Association of Pakistan’s (MAP) 36th Corporate Excellence Awards ceremony held in Karachi the other day, has observed that the corporate culture in the country is over regulated.
Businesses seem to be spending too much time on compliance rather than the business itself. The regulators have not come up to the expectations and have not tuned up to the needs of the businesses and there is a lack of cohesion amongst different regulators.
We have to change the mindset of the economic policy and the emphasis needs to be more on import substitution.
He stressed that the country cannot afford the import based society and needs to be changed.
Foreign investors do not seem to be interested in joint ventures but only in hundred percent equity which is not good for the country.
The emphasis should have been on ‘Make in Pakistan’ to reduce the import bill, and the companies should have been allowed to invest outside Pakistan, as Pakistani companies do have the resources to be on a global platform. He said that we need to redraft the foreign exchange regulations of Pakistan.
To develop the business culture, family businesses must be given due respect.Businessmen who pay taxes, dividends etc must be respected in this country.
This forum of MAP should be used to convey to the government to deregulate the corporate compliances which have become too onerous for the business.
Earlier, Talib S.Karim, President MAP talked about the role that MAP has played in creating awareness about the best management practices amongst the companies.
For this purpose MAP instituted its Corporate Excellence Award in 1982 which today is considered the ultimate accolade in the realms of corporate management.
The Award seeks to recognize and reward the best managed companies in Pakistan. He stressed upon the need for keeping up with changing times and that companies in Pakistan should focus aggressively on training and developing the younger managerial talent.
He said excellence in business and management practices can only be sustained if the companies in Pakistan plan for an active role and participate in the global quest for rapid advancement into realms of technology.
