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| Sunday, 09 March 2003 |
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Growth strategies for industries The gems and jewellery, packaging, plastic and wood-based industries last week presented five-year plans to increase productivity and competitiveness at a workshop on Strategies for Growth, How will the Industry Compete? A Forum for Change. The plans are developed as a part of a dialogue between the Ministry of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion and the private sector. Gems and Jewellery: Chanaka Ellawala, Chairman Gems and Jewellery Task Force outlined a three-pronged strategy to reposition, the island as the world's 'Sapphire Capital', first a Manufacturing Strategy to increase the value of local products, second, a Branding and Repositioning Strategy to differentiate the products and services from Sri Lanka to move the industry 'up-market,' and third, a Hub Strategy to support the other two strategies by providing the necessary infrastructure, support services, policy and business environment. Packaging: Chairman Packaging Task Force, Dharmatilake Ratnayake and Co-Chairman J. D. Amarasooriya said the long-term objective to achieve packaging sector competitiveness would be to acquire packaging service leadership in value, quality, reliability and responsible services with a view to capturing an overall market share of 80 per cent of the total packaging demand in Sri Lanka. "For this, we must look at productivity, competitive position, employee development, technological leadership and public responsibility involving both micro and macro perspectives of industry development. We have worked on strategies that are directed at two perspectives - shaping the remote and operating environment, organisational process re-engineering, redefining the Packaging Cluster and establishing intra-cluster linkages; and adjustments to the policy environment, factor creation and adding new value to value chain links." Plastics: According to Plastics Task Force Chairman Sarath Wijesinghe, to gain sustainable advantages in international trade, Sri Lanka needs to identify products and markets for processing and assembly of high value-added engineering plastics. The industry also needs better, more flexible labour laws to attract investment, leading to higher value products. Wood-based industry: Wood-based Industry Task Force Chairman Major Douglas Wijesinha said the strategic initiatives they have recommended can increase exports 10-fold and the domestic market threefold over the next five years, generating in excess of 100,000 new jobs. The Wood-based Industrialists Association is already working towards obtaining donor funding to up the Institute of Wood Technology, a partnership between the Government and private sector, to provide services, training, design and product development, advice and quality standards and assurance to the industry. |
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