Business and politics
BUSINESS wants to operate in an environment conducive to its goals of increased revenues, decreased costs, and providing employment to the community. While enterprise managers can steer operations towards attaining objectives, government policies, programs, and projects can hamper company initiatives, while the bureaucracy through delays could transform opportunities to hindrances. Business deals with such situation in many ways.
Business associations could bring up to government their concerns and problems without one company being singled out. Joint programs on infrastructure, environment, human resource development, and community service could lead to a better and business-friendly culture. Partnerships between government officials and businessmen are facilitated if relationships are established and cemented even before an official is elected to office.
2019 being an election year will see business involved in politics. There is the contribution to the campaign coffers with some businessmen giving amounts depending on their perception of the likelihood of a candidate being elected. There are even last-minute campaign contributions with a number of elected officials blessed with funds too late to use for the election but certainly adding to the resources for the future. Being in cash, these are not reflected in the SALNs. But there have been instances where the funds are not accepted – too little, too late?
Other nationwide businesses incorporate the candidates in their advertising campaign as endorsers. Bus companies will allow the rear of their vehicles to carry the ads of candidates. Bolder enterprises will even run ads putting their candidates’ opponents in an unfavourable light as one detergent company did in the last presidential elections. Of course, the votes of workers and their families can be committed to a candidate.
In some instances, the businessman decides to enter politics. I asked one for the reason as I knew him more as a professor and businessman than a politician. He replied that he was tired from giving campaign contributions and at the end of the day not sure if the elected official will even listen to him. He ran and he won. Now his family is entrenched with the governorship, congressional seat, and mayoralty of the capital city in their control.
This to me this is better than businessmen who get their way by lobbying the elected officials or get their protégées appointed to prime government positions. When policies and programs are announced, one still has to guess whose “unseen hand” is directing the show. A politician and government bureaucrat who belong to a business group provide the transparency for their actions. In most cases, they are even more careful to decide and ensure that there is “no conflict of interest.”
It may be time to move business and politics dynamics to the next level. Business groups could come up with the standards in evaluating the fitness of candidates to a public office. They could list the policies and programs that a business friendly government official should pursue. Collectively, they can then name the candidates they will support and back that up with a common fund so no one company will be identified. There can be as many associations as business interests – agriculture, industry, services and trading, banking, real estate, etc.
It’s time for business to take a stronger and more public stand. The May elections could be the start.