Revolutionary Empowerment: A Re-look at Spirituality, Cultural Integrity and Development

Murray HunterSME Unit

University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia

Abstract

A large proportion of people in rural areas throughout South-East Asia, although not considered in absolute poverty, exist in relative poverty, lacking perceptions of opportunity. Many development and empowerment programs to assist rural development have failed or brought only qualified success. Current education systems do not really meet the needs of rural communities and tend to be orientated towards those wanting to be involved in industrial development. This paper discusses these issues and provides some possibilities of what could be based on new emerging paradigms.

To equalize rural-urban affluence requires a great effort of imagination; …. Systems of ideas and values that suit relatively affluent and educated city people are unlikely to suit poor, semi-illiterate people. Poor people cannot simply acquire an outlook and habits of sophisticated city people. If the poor cannot adapt to the methods, then the methods must be adapted to the people. E. F. Schumacher1

God does not change the conditions of a people until they change their inner shelves

Qur’an 13:11

Competitive advantage grows fundamentally out of value a firm is able to create for its buyers that exceeds the firm’s costs of creating it. Value is what buyers are willing to pay, and superior value stems from… providing unique benefits that more than offset a higher price.

Michael E. Porter2

Opportunities are a product of our mind and these visions can become the design of our future with skilful and creative utilisation of scattered existing and forgotten resources to create great unimagined synergies. This is the true power of creativity that God has given humankind. Author

Introduction, Background: The Current Situation

It has long been recognized that economic growth in the developing world is not providing equality of opportunity to all people. Economic growth in the developing world

is region and urban orientated, leaving vast masses of people still without the ability to benefit from development. Unfortunately aggregate economic reporting often fails to highlight these regional pockets and then miss the attention they deserve from development programs offered to other groups in the same countries. Many of these groups cannot be classified as in absolute poverty, but are trapped in a situation where income can satisfy only basic living needs and vocational and entrepreneurial education is out of their reach.

This paper reflects my journeys and time in places like Sabah, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis in Malaysia, many parts of Southern Thailand and time spent with people concerned about the development of Namibia. This paper is also based on reflection upon many well intentioned development programs which I have seen and sometimes participated in, that have failed due to poor delivery, failed to capture the aspirations of participants or ended up being a promotional exercise rather than a real attempt to improve the situation on the ground. Unfortunately, I have also seen some programs insincere about their true objectives, improving the wealth of the implementers, leaving target groups no better off. There are also programs within the existing education and government delivery systems run for the purpose of achieving necessary KPIs, rather than tackling the real problems and issues at village level.

After years of development efforts, years of focus, well after political independence, the plight of many millions of people is not reported in any news, ignored and forgotten, and unlikely to change in the future. According to notable people in the field of rural studies, empowerment and anthropology, the writer’s personal observations are a wide spread phenomenon in the developing world3.

People have a differing set of opportunities according to geographical location, family background, education and access to resources. People without outside intervention can remain in poverty because of the lack of saving and capital depreciation, which prevents them from investing in the future. The area they live in may also be remote and without adequate physical and social infrastructure. There may be lack of individual and group innovation and access to technology. The ageing of skilled artisans and drain of any young skilled people, lured by urban opportunities, compounds this problem further. High fertility rates and sickness may prevent many from playing active roles. Add the effects of droughts, floods and other natural disasters; the plight of some rural communities is insurmountable.

It can be generally said that the scope of opportunities are much lower in rural than urban areas, leaving a choice for the younger generation, either to stay in the village and accept what is, or drift to the cities in search of new opportunities. Rural population moving into the cities is one of the major drivers of urbanization within the developing world, putting great stresses on urban infrastructure and development, often straining already limited fiscal budgets. This compounds rural infrastructure development problems, where governments tend to prioritize development of the urban areas with the limited resources they have. Even for people with ideas in rural areas, there is difficulty converting their concepts into an opportunity, often from a lack of specific technical knowledge, skills,

networks and resources. For married and single mothers, there is strong social and economic bonding to the village, leaving them in a situation that may be just a little above subsistence.

During my time visiting rural communities in South East Asia, I have observed some common factors to exist. Development stagnation occurs because of a generally lower educational disposition than the rest of the country, which prevents rural development keeping pace with urban growth. With remoteness from urban areas, many villages are usually unable to benefit from any existing tourist industry. An ageing farmer population, equipped with a limited knowledge of potential opportunities and matching skills also exists. There is usually growing unemployment sometimes leading to a host of social problems and a wide gap in affluence between the towns and the surrounding rural hinterland. A scarcity of ideas, resources, access to markets, education and skills leads to a narrow mindset, within what Goffman calls a psychic prison4, maintaining a sense of powerlessness. Usually a total lack of will sets in.

For those that make the choice to migrate to the urban centres, urban life will introduce them to a new set of cultural traits that need to be learned to survive. These cultural traits are often far removed from the values and beliefs they are brought up and used to. Some of these new traits weaken cultural identity and can bring about both a crisis at the individual and social level. Today in many Asian societies, the children of those who migrated from the villages perceive things and behave in vastly different ways to their grandparents, leaving their parents with divided loyalties between the value systems of their parents and children.

Higher education is out of the reach of many in the village due to a number of barriers, such as cost, pre-requisite achievement and other selection factors. Those that intend to stay in a rural area after completing their education, often lack the specific information, knowledge and skills directly relevant to what they might want to do. Most existing entrepreneurship education is taught with the assumption that people want to grow their business to the size of a definable SME. This may not necessarily be the aspiration of all people in rural areas. Conventional resource acquisition is another part of many entrepreneurial programs in situations where the availability of finance or enough savings to start a new venture may not be present. Thus available entrepreneurship education does not meet the needs of most.

After the Second World War many developing countries gained their independence. This brought about political emancipation from their former colonial masters. However in many cases colonial governments were only replaced by ‘neo-colonial’ governments dominated by a few families, which relied upon western ideas, institutions and strategies for development. Numerous local economies were dominated by multinational companies, foreign owned financial institutions, relying upon primary products as the major source of foreign exchange. Development advice was provided by benefactor countries within the socialist strategy where the government played a major role or a mixed economy model, following a classic industrialization strategy based on Rostow’s stages of growth model5.

Growth strategies focused on building industrialization in the urban centres. Where the country had a large population with potential spending power, import substitution strategies were employed to build employment. These strategies had consequences on rural development which was largely ignored. Technology was imported in ‘turnkey’ form, soaking up savings for investment. Often this did not result in any significant competitive advantage, so had to be propped up through protection. These policies also tended to ignore industries with potential self-employment, based on traditional skills and handicrafts. The result of this was a loss in traditional skills and cultural organization systems. The effect of development practices actually socialized oppression.

Changes in Thinking

Shortfalls in investment relied upon foreign aid, which literature over the past few decades has both advocated and criticized. Much of this aid was focused on infrastructure and national development. The general western institutional consensus during the 1960’s was that development should take precedence over equity, which would be redistributed later. This paradigm was so strong that Meier’s Classic textbook on development economics did not even mention poverty and income redistribution in its first edition6.

Eugene Burdick and William Lederer summed up the foreign aid situation in their bestseller The Ugly American back in 19587. It was the young engineer Homer Atkins who worked side by side with the local villagers to create things that were needed for everyday life, while both the Soviets and Americans played with foreign aid for political advantage. John Perkins book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man greatly elaborates (although factually debated and disputed8) about the role of foreign aid for political advantage9.

Geoffrey Sachs in his book The End of Poverty heavily criticizes the clinical approach taken to poverty eradication by the major international agencies. He claims that “many poor countries today pretend to reform where rich countries pretend to help them”10, and that aid agencies tend to be fixed on developing symbolic rather than substantive projects, in what he terms the “motions of reform doing little in practice”11. Sachs recognizes that development starts with the people themselves, who must be ready and willing to act both individually and collectively, rejecting the acceptance of their fate12.

The Education System

Institutionalized education has undergone a massive change over the last couple of decades. Education has transformed itself from an integral part of a country’s infrastructure that lays a claim on government resources, to an activity that can generate lucrative profits for providers. Education is undergoing corporatisation and even privatization to some extent, and is now one of the fastest growing industries within the global economy. Education is no longer a recipient of aid, but a source of profits.

Growth of the education sector tends to be centered in urban areas and is perhaps the second largest single item of expenditure for families after a house (in many rural areas, it would cost much more than a house). Educational institutions tend to offer courses that are popular and can provide a means of gaining good and high paid jobs in the growing industrial economies. Courses like business and engineering are growing, while at the same time courses in agriculture and rural activities have been scaled back dramatically.

Business education has generally followed the American model based on the MBA. DBAs and BBAs are also taking their place along side the MBA in a number of hybrid forms around the developing world. Henry Mintzberg, considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of modern business management has been one of the most vocal critics of the current business education system and the MBA, in particular. He stated that “…regular full-time MBA programs with inexperienced people should be closed down. It’s wrong to train people who aren’t managers to become managers…. MBA programs are confused between training leaders and specialists. At the moment we train financial analysts and expect them to become leaders…to be superbly successful you have to be a visionary…success can come if you are a true empower of people, are empathetic and sensitive, these are not the qualities that the MBA will nurture. MBA programs usually attract neither creative nor generous people and the end result is trivial strategists13.”

Compounding the problem further is that there are few programs available to rural people at or near their domicile. Institutions set up specifically for community education most often lack instructors with business experience at the micro level. Those courses available are mostly based on conventional small business courses, that are totally inadequate as they fail to empower participants in the creativity of ideas, and focus on business models, which already exist in heavy competition. They don’t show how to seek resources outside of traditional institutions and lack guidance in showing how to seek innovative ways to apply useful technology to the circumstances of how and where they live. The gap between what is available, and what is needed, can be seen when contrasting the various tenants of the small business and entrepreneurial paradigms as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Small business and entrepreneurial paradigms

Attribute Small Business Entrepreneurial BusinessRisk Risk is to be avoided by

undertaking a business activity that is already proven to be successful. Therefore business models will not be novel.

Ideas and opportunities are always risks. Every village and every person is unique and will have different ideas that suit them.

Need to Achieve A small business is totally orientated towards a financial return.

Financial return may not be the prime motivator. Individuals and groups may want to produce something they like and have pride in.

Creativity An enterprise will fit into a proven model so not much

The enterprise from the first idea may be driven by many types of

creativity is needed. creativity, and creativity itself may be a source of satisfaction.

Flexibility A small business is a business operated through a disciplined routine in most cases.

Individuals and groups may be looking for maximum flexibility in an enterprise, so it can fit in with their life, rather than they have to fit in with the small business.

Change Small businesses rely on little environmental change for success.

Change in the environment may suit individuals and groups as they don’t want to get locked into routine, and change prototes their creativity.

Independence Financial independence is the objective.

We are already independent and don’t want a business to lock us into a strict routine.

Foresight A daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal cycle that is predictable.

We may have to keep coming up with new things to keep the enterprise going.

Initiative There are very tight resources to have much initiative.

We rely on initiative to keep going, and all initiatives are considered.

Control of destiny

The future is controlled by sales in the marketplace.

The future is in our hands of what we want to be.

Commitment Total commitment. I want to be committed on my terms.

Leadership I am the leader and do all tasks. Leadership is defined by tasks.

Technology

Rapid advances in technology are driving economic growth and development throughout the world. Technology advances were the catalyst of the industrial revolution. The advances in information, communications, containerization and transport technologies over the last few decades have provided the means for businesses to operate on a global scale like never before. However, technology in much of the developing world is adopted without question. Dr. Asma warns there …“is also the tendency for Asian countries, including Malaysia, to deal with the issue of values in development by importing many technologies and systems wholesale from abroad without going through the process of mental transformation necessary to master them fully. Although Malaysia is going through rapid transformation, our growth is one without development in the context of knowledge contribution to science, engineering and technology. As long as we are consumers and operators of sophisticated techniques, plants and technologies imported wholesale from abroad, we are to a certain extent undergoing a technology-less form of industrialization. This transformation of values and attitudes is a key issue in the nation’s development agenda”14 . Blind acceptance of technology is a barrier to empowerment,

reinforcing the accepted market structure. Accepting technology as a given, is associated with a paradigm of doom, inhibiting local innovation.

Technology as well as driving economic growth is also creating a number of destructive effects upon traditional lives in the developing world. Joseph Pearce in a sequel book to Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful, states that “the introduction of inappropriate technology in third world countries has forced many millions to uproot themselves from villages and migrate to the cities, where they are doomed to lives of urban squalor and deprivation15’. It is ironic that the quest for economies of scale and large enterprises in the developing world is actually contrary to business growth trends in the United States and Europe, where small business makes up the majority of economic activities16.

One of the major themes of Schumacher’s philosophy was adapting technology to suit small group enterprises so they could benefit from economic development where they lived, without the need to migrate to urban areas. He argued that economies of scale was a misguided argument and that production costs would not necessarily be any higher due to small scale production. This idea has been shown to have success in the recent documentary The New Heroes demonstrating through examples that technology can be adapted successfully to the micro-level with great benefits17. Building one’s own capital goods and means of production is in-fact one of the key success factors in the Japanese being able to successfully compete on cost against the Chinese in international markets, according to Chen. A lesson can be learned from some of the Japanese companies. Japanese companies have been able to build their own plant and processing equipment at a third of the cost of the Chinese18, who purchased their equipment from third party vendors. The Japanese have realized that this is a source of competitive advantage and are able to continue to export from a much higher cost base because of substantial capital savings. Technology is simply about how to produce things in the most practical way.

Many government agencies and programs aimed at eradicating poverty in the region have lacked market orientation. Any individual successes would appear to be more the result from a few committed and passionate ‘local champions’ who have been able to develop the imagination and commitment of the people they are working with. Many different development models have been utilized and new initiatives launched which often seem to lack thought and sensitivity to the target groups they are aimed at empowering19.

The Malaysian Experience

In the Malaysian case, the Prime Minister, YAB Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi has given strong personal support to the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The plan has a major objective of revitalizing the agricultural sector to become the third pillar of growth in the economy20. Although projections of the agriculture sector’s percentage of GDP is still expected to decline over the next five years, from 8.2% in 2005 to a forecast 7.8% in 2010, real GDP is expected to increase from RM21,585 million in 2005 to RM27,518 million in 2010. A real growth rate of 5.0% p.a. is required to achieve this21. This objective is expected to be achieved through increasing Government expenditure in this sector from RM7,749 million or 4.6% of total Government expenditure during the

Eighth Malaysia Plan to RM11,435 million or 5.7% of total Government expenditure during the current plan22.

The vision for agriculture under the Ninth Malaysia Plan is to transform the sector into a technology and skills based sector, relying on estate sector expansion, research and development and entrepreneurship to improve productivity and increase efficiencies. The Government will attempt to facilitate this through investing in infrastructure development, human resource development and increasing funding for research in the sector23. Through this approach, new sources of growth are expected to be exploited, agro-based processing expanded with diversified products, new global markets developed, thus increasing the incomes of entrepreneurs, farmers and small-holders24. The policy recognizes that there are still pockets of poverty in rural areas and a slow transformation of small-holdings into modern farms25. The Ninth Malaysia Plan is very specifically focused on the above issue, when compared to the Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3) 1998-201026, reflecting the changes in thinking from the late 1990’s, when that document was written.

The most crucial part of the Ninth Malaysian Plan agriculture policy is in the area of human capital development. The overall macro-economic objective is to increase productivity by 6.2%27. The policy specifically focuses on “emphasis will be given to the provision of training to change the mindset and attitudes of farmers and fishermen as well as the younger generation including those with higher education to participate more effectively in modern and commercially orientated agricultural activities’28. Not only is this measure intended to improve productivity, but assist in creating job opportunities for those unemployed in rural areas, a source of poverty in Malaysia. The plan to train 657,720 people over the next five years shows the immense size of this initiative and priority of the Government. Under these programs, small and medium size entrepreneur ventures are specifically targeted as a major component29.

The smallholder sector in Malaysia produces the bulk of the country’s cash crops and their contribution to food production is significant. However, most smallholders suffer from uneconomic land sizes, exposure to commodity price fluctuations, rising input and production costs, shortages of labour, soil erosion, and persistent low productivity. There is also a high degree of monoculture in this sector and this is stressing soils. Together with many poor farming practices, the bulk of the smallholder sector is unsustainable, where high levels of phosphates, pesticide and herbicide residuals are finding their way into waterways and the water-table itself. This group is among one of the lowest income groups in the country.

In addition, the children of smallholder families, given the opportunity, are attracted to other careers outside farming, as they see this as a way out of poverty. This compounds labour shortages and starves the sector of good management and entrepreneurship. Thus the sector is left with an aging labour population. Also, good agricultural land near cities and towns is now worth more for other uses and many sucome to the temptation to sell their land.

The smallholder sector generally has a very low technology base. There has also been a large failure in successfully implementing new crops and developing village based products in the sector. Research institutions like MARDI follow only national new crop agendas, so regional new crop development is left to the various state agriculture departments, most having extremely limited resources for research, development and extension. There are a number of steps required to successfully implement a new crop, which needs technical, management, entrepreneurship skills and finance. Financial institutions are extremely reluctant to advance funding for new crops and technology development. Smallholders have traditionally only been interested in cultivating crops for other people to market and sell, thus missing more profitable parts of the value chain.

Table 2. Issues and problems Encountered in New Crop Development30

Issue CommentsFocus Paradigm Requires focus on concept of food where present focus is

on cultivation This requires research This requires entrepreneurship approach Concepts not understood by farmers

Basic Research Needs access to worldwide data Requires availability of suitable germ-plasmas Requires basic R&D to determine whether crop

technically suitable Requires basic R&D to determine if potential crop is

economically feasibleCrop Management & Processing

Propagation technologies How to plant, cultivate & manage to crop How to harvest, extract, store and handle How to process How to package Transportation and storage

Marketing Infrastructure

Require coordination of production with demand Require correct channels of distribution Requires a marketing strategy

Economies and Logistics

Requires enough volume to economically transport and distribute

Requires solution to inconsistencies of quality and production

Organisation Need committed people with strong leadership and trustGovernment Need to translate support into action

Need funding allocationsFinance Very difficult to obtain funding for these projectsConsumers Need efforts for education & promotion

The author believes that failure to solve the many issues and exploit opportunities mentioned above, have a basis in a socio-psycho ‘mindset’ prevailing in the country. This is not to say that a change in mindset is the only factor that would result in solving problems and exploiting opportunities. Infrastructure, education, skills development, market scanning, new crop product and processing development and last but not least, financial support are all factors, just as important to make change. However without mindset change, the allocation of resources into all the other areas is not likely to change the nature of the rural sector.

The writer’s observation of this prevailing mindset is that it is common through the various participation levels in the sector, as can be shown in the following examples;

1. Farmers and small-holders tend to produce first without buyers, rather than go out and look for customers, market passive,

2. If one farmer is successful in cultivating a particular crop and has a ‘niche’ market, many others will want to join the bandwagon until over supply occurs, copy cat approach,

3. Farmers and small-holders have for generations used the ‘quick-fix approach’ to agricultural practices and problems, i.e., heavy use of herbicides, pesticides and burning off to rid the land of weeds, pests and wastes, and have little understanding of the concept and value of sustainable farming, poor exposure and perhaps resistance to new ideas,

4. Mono-cropping is widely practiced, rather than integrated approaches, practice isolation,

5. Considered potential crop options are usually within a narrow list of traditional crops, market isolation, and finally

6. People only undertake agriculture activities, if they cannot get a better job somewhere else, perception of agriculture as only a fallback profession.

In addition, management (both public & private sector) tends to compare all potential new crops with palm oil revenues, i.e., ‘benchmarking’ in evaluating economic and cultivation potential, fixation on a single success.

Another common phenomenon is what was termed as the ‘knowledge trap’ by Professor Hans-Dieter Evers of the University of Bonn. The knowledge trap process begins when data, knowledge and information is taken over without understanding of the corresponding local and site specific issues involved and this data becomes the basis to copy solutions into the local context. The transfer of knowledge without testing and localisation can lead to poor investments and project failure as the gap in the information let unknowns unresolved31. It is too common that local decision makers fall into this trap.

Psychologically, this can be seen as a manifestation of overconfidence, which can in extreme cases perpetuate an air of arrogance and close one’s mind to bad news and signs of failure in the pursued development strategy32. This is a much wider phenomenon and can be seen almost universally in management around the world33. Overconfidence is a facit of a more general optimism bias, making one believe in their own judgements, even

though data supporting these views is not present. General behaviour arising from this is taking actions in situations where information and advice to the contrary is provided by others and ignored34.

Finally on this point, this behaviour tends to be supported by the metaphoric idiom as ‘berlagak pandai’ or showing off a pseudo-knowledgeable behaviour, that may not have its basis in fact or proven data. This is perhaps a culture specific behaviour which has something to do with ‘being honest’ is not preferable, if honesty reveals one’s lack of knowledge or ignorance. This can be summed up as a dysfunctional cultural trait, as the idiom ‘segan bertanya sesat jalan’ or if we feel shy to ask, then we may go unguided indicates35.

The Need for Paradigm Change – Old Village, New Village

Problems at these proportions require complete change, to escape the paradigm of doom. However, opportunities are required to empower people and much of the debate is about finding opportunity for rural communities. History has shown that opportunity is poorly created through political processes and political victories do not necessarily bring with them empowerment for the people. There must be something else, as some countries in the developing world that gained independence from their colonial masters have not reached any degree of empowerment for their people in the rural areas, and some countries with non-democratic regimes are beginning to develop the process within their villages. The concept of opportunity should be examined.

The concept of entrepreneurship is understood by many to be about attributes and traits of some people that give them an “entrepreneurial” make-up. Entrepreneurship is often talked about in the sense of propensity to take risk, the need to achieve and the ability to exploit an opportunity through product development, innovation and networking36. The study of entrepreneurship is shifting focus to the issue of opportunity discovery37. Logically, only after opportunities are discovered, can they be exploited.

During the early part of last century, Hayek saw entrepreneurship economic activity as a journey of continual discovery which usually brought about minor or incremental change38. Schumpeter, another economist of the same period, saw that innovation in the market through new products was most favourable when the economy was near equilibrium39. Markets would follow a cycle where the best entrepreneur would introduce a new innovation, only to be followed by the less talented entrepreneurs at a later stage. Higher economic growth due to inertia towards equilibrium would bring more opportunities (see figure 2).

So where do opportunities come from? This is the fundamental question of education and development. Opportunities are not there to see without creative discovery. Discovery is a cognitive process related to mental processes that engage one in seeing things in a meaningful way. This means that opportunity is a social construct, rather than something tangible or intangible that can be seen or can be read. It requires putting sensory and factorial data together in some sort of ordered or patterned way through an intuitive

Pioneers Early followers

Early

Majority

Late

Majority

Late

Followers

Product LifecyclePotential Profitability

Time

Concept

Risk Taking

Competitive

Risk Taking

IP Value &

NoveltyIP Value

Prof

it

process. The same stimuli can be seen by different people, with different constructs made through differing cognitive interpretations. This places cognitive discovery or spotting opportunities at the centre of entrepreneurship. Casson defined “entrepreneurial opportunities as the discovery of novel means-ends relationships, through which new goods and services, resources and agency are created”40. Opportunity is blocked by the mind. Entrepreneurial success depends upon the interactions of the characteristics of the opportunity and the people who exploit them, which places the importance in strategy, resource, agency and management as the second fundamental aspect of entrepreneurship. The importance of the opportunity discovery and exploitation process in entrepreneurship is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Product Lifecycle, Profits, and IP Value (Innovation) in a Market

The base of opportunity discovery is knowledge. Knowledge gives rise to new opportunities. Thus the opportunity space or scope of opportunity is dependent upon the ability of people to gather and exploit new knowledge. This goes some way to explaining why there is a higher propensity towards entrepreneurship in developed countries and in urban areas of developing countries where there are larger flows of information41. Increasing peoples knowledge in rural areas requires the overcoming of institutional, cultural, individual and financial barriers. Education is a perquisite in developing the skills of opportunity discovery.

There is a general consensus that there are more potential opportunities in technology than in non-technology industries42. The mythology of the word technology can be debunked by looking up the meaning in the Oxford Dictionary; scientific knowledge used

in practical ways in industry. Scientific is defined as a way of doing something or thinking. If cognitive processes can be trained to see things differently by looking at them in new ways, then new knowledge can be created, leading to the discovery of new opportunities. Higher knowledge levels will not only lead to better individual innovative output, but also create new opportunities for others in the community through “spin-off” projects43.

The limited success of over sixty years of development efforts, requires a revolutionary change in thinking and action, to catalyse the new village. The term revolutionary empowerment was used by Gioconda Belli in her novel La Mujer Habitada (The Inhabited Woman) to question western civilization’s understanding of nature and technology in their life and development and recognize the different role of nature in indigenous culture44. As we have seen, independence and revolution brought political empowerment under new artifacts of independent destiny, but in the majority of cases this did not correspond with much economic and cultural independence in the rural areas of many countries. The first revolution meant a change from a colonial to a ‘neo-colonial’ regime making the political decisions and multinational corporations making the economic decisions. People in rural areas have little better access to finance, resources, technology, education and distribution channels. A redefining of the concept of development is needed and a second revolution of human empowerment is called for.

Figure 2: The Importance of Opportunity Discovery and the Exploitation Process in Entrepreneurship

Ideas Opportunities Solutions Realisation Performance

Spots Evaluates Selects Targets

Creativity Innovation Strategic Thinking

Management Capability

Capabilities Governing Competitive Scope

Competitive Advantage

Costs: to customers Knowledge: Industry/market/technical/p rocess Relationships: Customers/suppliers/distri butors/relative power Structure: Ability

Differentiation

Competencies Entrepreneurial, Opportunity

Identification, Network, Conceptual, Organisational, Strategic, Commitment,

Resources

Schumacher questioned the very concepts of the development paradigm a long time ago and to some degree economic empowerment of rural communities on their terms is becoming politically correct. We have to accept that others may want different lifestyles and value their tranquility and surroundings more than their yearn for material development. If we can accept this, then education becomes concerned with knowledge and creativity, based on the existing surroundings and lifestyle of rural groups. Thus revolutionary empowerment has to tackle the unconscious institutional socialization of oppression, employ catalytic processes to assist people to see things in new ways, harness technology in new ways through taking a wider view of what technology really is, see resource acquisition in a new light and develop new structures of agency to utilize market channels innovatively, within the context of what is important to the individual, economically, socially, spiritually and culturally. This requires questioning and reflecting upon the opportunities in the existing capitalist/market system structure.

New Markets?

Global business over the last two decades has expanded like no other time in history, where trademarks and brands like FedEx, McDonalds, CNN and Starbucks are established in Beijing, London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Sydney. This spread of business and cosmopolitan culture has partly been made possible by the rapid increase in immigration throughout the world. This environment is now allowing ‘culturally orientated brands’ like Aljazera, and McDoner spread globally, emulating the established MNCs from developed countries. The developing global business environment is allowing linkages between developed and developing economies which are becoming deeper45.

International markets are extremely complex to understand (see figure 3). However today, modern technology, transport and communications, are now accessible to rural communities like never before in our social history. Markets can be seen as systems. Through curious reflection and questioning of the existing relationships, new modes and strategies for market entry can be discovered. This can be seen through the following examples.

Domestic, International markets and channels: Some products developed according to common themes can satisfy the aspirations of consumers across multiple markets, while some markets are entirely different culturally, running counter to the concept of the cosmopolitan man. What works in one market may not always work in another. The influence of what channel you utilize may have a great bearing on success and may lend credibility to your marketing strategy, while products on the shelf in a crowded market may just loose their meaning. The internet is now a linker of markets and an extension of packaging.

Figure 3. A Systems View of an International market

Regulation: is both a gatekeeper restricting what you can do and at the same time a useful barrier to entry and also part of a marketing strategy. REACH will have international consequences where many ‘natural’ products must carry warnings. Many markets now have high entry costs, keeping out the fainthearted. Organic, Halal, kosher and Fairtrade certifications now form part of the labeling and become part of the corporate image of many companies.

Tastes, trends, material availability, technology and competitors: Winning over competitors is dependent upon identifying tastes and trends and providing a product proposition successfully to consumers. Acquiring and developing apt technologies and raw materials is a strategy enabler for a firm and will become a facet of relative competitive advantage.

Style, branding, logistics, competencies: All are now integrated and the same thing. Branding and logistics must be reflected in your competencies. There is no such thing as being ‘half green’ or ‘half ethical’. That will only lead to skepticism on the part of consumers. Many MNCs have made this mistake with new product launches.

Finance: The way of financing the cosmetic and personal care industry is set for great changes. Venture capitalists will finance new bio-materials, look at Silicon Valley. Companies will quickly list on equity exchanges, able to pull in funds from consumers based on the aspirations of their corporate philosophy. Distribution channels will also become funding channels where consumers can invest in the manufacturers through managed trusts.

Chemical Raw Materials Packaging

Style

Branding

Promotion

Finance

Logistics

Company Fit Manufacturing Processes

Competencies

Competitors

Material Availability

Sourcing

Trends

Tastes

Technology

International Markets

Domestic Market

Relative Competitive Advantage

Channels

Regulation

Feedback

Feed forward

Relative competitive advantage: will no longer be based economies of scale but have more to do with brand, philosophy, theme and how well a firm manages logistics, material acquisition and channels of distribution.

Chemical raw materials and packaging: central to the whole picture – if you are what you eat, you also are what you use46.

Product/markets can be seen as themes. A theme is not really a radical departure from the conventional marketing mix or customer orientated marketing concepts. A theme attempts to capsulate the aspirations of consumers and manifest these aspirations into the product. For example, this is not a strange concept to the cosmetic and personal care industry. Most companies work on themes (some passionately), concerning the environment, safety, naturalness, health, beauty, economy, etc. For example, do consumers buy products with tea tree oil because it is tea tree oil, or do they buy a product with tea tree oil because it is natural and perceived to be healthy? Why are organic cosmetics reported47 to be the fastest growing cosmetic and personal care segment in Europe and the US? Why are anti-aging products such an important market segment today? It all has something to do with aspirations.

Aspirations are the base of a theme and a common generic typology of consumer aspirations can be used to identify common feelings within a community to explain why they buy certain products. This can be developed into a theme and if enough consumers have these aspirations and if the new product has successfully engulfed these aspirations, chances are the new product will be well accepted by consumers. Just think about Aveda, The Body Shop, Innocent Drinks in the UK and Thursday plantations, just to mention a few.

A consumer typology can be geographically based but also related to demographic segmentation and psychographic segmentation. Psychographic segmentation is one of the primary marketing tools today, which focuses on lifestyles, attitudes, values and beliefs. This can be illustrated using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a way to understand market segments48. Figure 4 shows product types matched to different needs levels (typologies) of consumers. When a product can be matched to the consumers’ needs profile, primary and secondary product attributes and strategy can be relatively accurately aligned, theoretically giving a product a maximum chance of success.

Once establishing the consumer typology a new product is to target, it is a matter of formally developing all of the attributes the product must fulfill. This is where all environmental attributes are merged into the product, so that the technical side of the process can commence with a clear idea of what is actually required. The aim is to merge the brand image of a product, in synergy with product presentation (formula, packaging,

Actualisation

(The Artist) Self-fulfillment

Rice

Soap Fresh

Vegetables

Most Household Cleaning Products

Water Purifiers

Fashion Clothes (e.g. Jeans)

Chewing Gum

Car Air Fresheners

Travel & Vacations Fine Fragrances

Aromatherapy products Luxury cars

Nutraceuticals & herbs

Books Fine Dining & Processed Foods

Study after retirement Fresh vegetables (Organic)

Esteem (The Executive)

Achievement, prestige,fulfillment

Social (Worker) Family, relationships,

workgroups

Safety (The Farmer) Home, Security and stability

Physiological (The Hunter) Basic Biological Needs – Food, water, air

Staples: based on survival (fear)

Necessities: based on what is good (existence)

Community: (acceptance)

Responsibility: (hope)

Fulfillment: (dreams)

Figure 4: Product Types Matched with Different Needs Typologies

colour, advertising and corporate image), promotion, and other market strategies49. An example of a potential theme for say Borneo Rainforest products could be as follows; Sabah is on the World list of ‘exotic’ locations; There is Mystic; There is cultural diversity; There is history and heritage; There is nature and serenity; Sabah is a place of peace, health and harmony50. Opportunities are constructed from the marketplace. They don’t actually exist until we create them. This is where innovation really starts in the empowerment process.

The theme approach to markets is a useful tool to meet the paradigm shifts occurring in US markets, according to recent research undertaken by the US based Natural marketing Institute;

“The Age of the Individual is exploding in reaction to mass marketing and a declining trust in the traditional authorities of church, government and the corporation, driving a culture of consumer-generated content, products and services that are "made just for me." Consumer customization spans everything from personalized beverages with programmable bottles, Puma's custom-designed sneakers, to Toyota's successfully customizable Scion. This trend for greater authority and self-discovery is also witnessed in the health decision

making process, with an emergence of "independent attitudes" driving greater polarization of health and wellness at both ends of the spectrum, while increases in "condition specific" supplements reflect further expansion in the "made for me" culture.

From the rental of couture handbags and luxury car timeshares to "pop up" retail events, consumers increasingly respond to the temporary in a culture that is less permanent and forever on the move. For the health and wellness category, this means faster product lifecycles as consumers demand greater innovation and exhibit a greater willingness to try new products regardless of brand. This decline in brand loyalty is witnessed across categories, including the beverage category, as consumers seek the thrill of discovery of new products, new flavors and innovative packaging concepts. In addition, these "forever on the move" consumers will drive new innovation in healthy convenience.

The retail and brand "New Luxury" explosion that made consumers expect an extremely high level of experience at every touch point is now evolving beyond the physical and emotional dimensions to the experience of fundamental core values. From luxury hybrid cars to couture dresses made from organic and sustainable fabrics, it is not enough to have it all -- we also want to feel better about what we have. This is reflected in the growth of Ecotourism (which is outpacing the travel industry), cause marketing programs exploding as sourcing, materials, trade practices and social causes become a part of the consumer brand experience, as well as the growing popularity in organic products, along with the willingness to pay the 20% premium.

In response to decades of over-massification, consumers are embracing back-to-the-future simplicity, authenticity, hand-crafted and a belief that quality is better than quantity. Consumers are gravitating to smaller footprint retail environments, including a resurgence of "high street" shopping for one-of-a-kind offerings including "artisan" and handmade goods. Products with legible labels, simplified ingredients and reassuring packaging are also experiencing success. Nowhere is the back-to-the-future movement more apparent than the explosive growth of consumer brands perceived to be "small and authentic."

Scandals across religious, government and corporate institutions began the erosion of trust, while the explosion of widespread technology in a post 9/11 world is creating a highly fear-based society, driving consumers to attempt to take ever-greater control of their environment, property, time and safety. Consumers appear to be "shutting down" as a result of these mounting external factors, with growing concerns about food safety, climate change and a reliance on fossil fuels. This is translating into an increased desire for safer foods and beverages, organic and environmentally-friendly products, and significant opportunities for manufacturers and retailers to build market share through trust and reassurance.

New media is putting the consumer in greater control in a content-driven world, changing the role of branding from one of authority to that of a peer. Websites are increasingly enabling consumers to customize their on-line experience, creating tight-knit communities of like-minded people driving word-of-mouth about products and services as a result. The Internet is a growing platform for the

Wellness industry in particular, as consumers confirm the increased influence of the Internet on their healthy and natural purchases. In fact, consumers are currently shopping the Internet in varying frequency for healthy and natural products.

Consumers have an insatiable demand for knowledge and learning as keys to self-actualization, creating an ever-increasing desire to maintain and optimize brain power. With distractions and 24/7 connectivity intensifying, consumers find their ability to concentrate and retain memory being drastically reduced. Not only a problem among Boomers, consumers across all age groups indicate significant concern about preventing concentration and memory problems. Nearly three-quarters of consumers are currently using supplements, foods or beverages to prevent memory problems and further opportunities exist to target the needs of consumers -- from students, to gamers to moms to seniors”51.

Successful market paradigms (themes) utilized by well known international companies are outlined in the Table 3 below:

Table 3. Market/Brand Paradigms Utilized by Some International Companies

Aveda The Body Shop

Thursday Plantation

Sureco Hain Celestial

GroupEst. Sales USD120million

(1996)52

USD619mil (2006)

USD1.5Billion (2006)53

USD85Million (2006)54

USD40Mil55 USD738Mil56

(2006)

Location USA UK Australia Malaysia USAEstablished 1978 1976 1976 1999 1926Products Personal Care Personal Care Personal

CareHerbs Organic food

and cosmetics

Basic Philosophy To sustain the environment

and give back to communities

Social humanitarianism activism on many issues

Natural tea tree

products/natural

medicines

Halal & Toyyibaan

Free of artificial

ingredients, Kosher foods

Ethics YesGreen Yes Yes YesNatural Yes Yes Yes YesOrganic Yes Yes YesCommunity Yes Yes YesCulturalReligious/Spiritual Yes YesMode of Distribution Direct

Marketing/Salon

Retail and e-Commerce

Direct and through

distributors

Direct Marketing

General distribution

Owner Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

Loreal Chris Dean & Family

Private Ownership

Listed company

Each company has been able to create a solid position in international markets by following a definite corporate and marketing philosophy. No company has completely connected all the possible paradigms together into one complete corporate image and philosophy, except for Aveda and The Body Shop, although, the Body Shop has not been without criticisms. One will see that as well as company branding and philosophy, there is a link between company platform (i.e., Aveda owned by Estee Lauder) and size. Thus good and opportune branding also requires strong channel access to succeed. One should also note that there is a growing momentum of small to medium young companies that are achieving dramatically high sales growth rates through the utilization of themes in their marketing and corporate strategies.

In markets like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong where intense trade buyer concentration exists, reactionary purchasing attitudes also exist, which will only allow acceptance of proven consumer and market themes. New emerging themes are only added to the shelves when the mainstream manufacturers tell retailers, that this ‘is the way to go’. An emerging new product theme has to wait until it is perceived mainstream enough to generate a minimum number of unit sales a week on the shelves. Innovation begins in other channels, direct marketing, the internet or even ‘Sunday markets’. In Malaysia and the rest of South-East Asia, the perceived risk of launching radical new products tends to stifle innovation, where many companies prefer being product followers, allowing others to innovate, thereby reducing their own risk. True innovation is found through alternative market channels, before new concepts are accepted in the traditional retail trade, especially in Thailand and Indonesia.

Globalism may be bringing about evolution towards the cosmopolitan-man. Yes it may even be bringing great similarities in the part of our collective psych concerning material things. We can criticize the global capitalist system and take an anti-globalism stance. But its like swimming in a river against the current, where there is no way you can swim upstream. Exhaustion will set in with nothing achieved, except drowning. We have to learn to use the river current to our own advantage and empower ourselves accordingly to the environment we face. This is a great departure from accepted Occidental assumption that man can control the environment and a shift towards the Eastern Oriental paradigm of that seeks ways and means to utilize the existing flows of nature to achieve ends rather than fight against them. Therefore they is great advantage of swimming with the river rather than against it.

This means that the global capitalist system in our nature can become our means and not our object of envy, dissatisfaction and criticism. The market can be reframed as a platform to bring together the shared visions of both producers and consumers – a two way, rather than, one way channel. The search now begins armed with new technologies of how to utilize what is, rather than waste energy on what is not.

Re-aligning Cultural Spiritualism

One of the cornerstones of culture is society’s fundamental ethical systems embedded within the religious or other value systems. Max Weber is one of the earliest modern

scholars who studied the relationship between religion and economic behaviour. He found a connection between the rise of capitalism in the West and the Protestant work ethic. Weber believed there was a strong influence on economic and work behaviour from religious beliefs – i.e., religious values spill over to all areas in one’s life57. Weber compared this to Confucian ethics and found that people following Confucianism tended to harmonise themselves with their environment and develop a collective form of social relationships. Weber postulated that different philosophies and religions in East and West would lead to different types of entrepreneurial spirit and managerial styles58.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s many academics became interested in the connections between Confucianism and the spectacular rise of the Asian Tigers. Some argued that Confucius was opposed to modernization as it didn’t advocate individualism, common to the Western characteristics of entrepreneurship, was too dependent on guidance, emphasized an all round development of personality to harmonise with the environment, which discouraged aggressiveness and encouraged traditionalism, rather than modernisation59. However Tu suggested that individualism is a Western mode of capitalism and East Asian had developed another model based on relationships to develop change through consensus and networks, with a sense of personal discipline60. Confucianism was criticized for lack of profit motive, as his philosophies discouraged self-motivation and that merchants were not included in Confucius set of key relationships. However, through responsibility and obligation to family, other motives exist, such as their well-being61, and treatment of those inside and outside an individual’s universe of relationships will be different, i.e., treated with respect but caution, more adversarial, rather than brotherly relationship. Confucianism is also criticized for its lack of innovation, whereas the reality of Chinese business has been to seek ways to control an existing market, rather than create new value through innovation62.

The traditions of Confucianism have historical and regional variations, there are certain central ideas and values which are common. These values have constituted the key elements of the traditions of societies which have endured history and political upheavals. The basic Confucian concepts embraces a dynamic cosmological worldview for promoting harmony amidst change, where individuals exist in concentric circles of relationships with ethical responsibilities that place importance on the family, within a hierarchical social system, where loyalty to elders is paramount and a generational concept of gratitude and respect for earlier ancestors exists. Education is the mechanism where individuals are cultured and developed as a means to enrich society and create a social and political order. History is valued as continuality and a basis for moral reflection and learning. This philosophy was able to change the family in agrarian China from a unit of production to a collective moral dimension, with a social code for each rank of the family hierarchy, very different from the Western concept of individualism63. This led to the concept of guanxi , much written about in Western literature, “a focus on relationships with a shared history, respect for the past, a value that many – not all – Chinese cherish”64.

Two other concepts in Confucianism are Tao, the way of life and Te, potency and self-sacrificial generosity with humility, with the moral power of attraction and

transformation, associated with these qualities. The humanistic attribute required to achieve the above is through Jen, which means love, kindness and goodness, qualities of the perfect individual. This is the essence of what makes humans different from other members of the animal kingdom. Failure to develop Jen would lead an individual to quickly develop forgone conclusions, dogmatism, obstinacy and egotism, which would block wisdom and prevent people from making new insights and discoveries, as one’s mind must remain open to become wiser. Li is the expression of Jen in a social context through norms, rites and rituals governing ceremonies according to one’s social position. Through Li, the individual expresses his respect and reverence for others65.

It can also be argued that Confucianism actually has little influence on the way Chinese business is operated, at least in South-East Asian countries like Malaysia. Although Chinese business sustains and nurtures family members and maintains a paternalistic and hierarchical nature of authority within the enterprise66, there is little evidence that Malaysian Chinese businesses rely on guanxi networks for growth and development, have little interest in long term sustainability and little adherence to the Chinese philosophies associated with Confucianism67. It is also unlikely that many contemporary Chinese have a thorough understanding of the Confucius philosophy or the will or want to fulfill the piety and wisdom defined by Confucius in everyday life, as one of Confucius followers Mèngzî warned, Jen is a concept not easily achieved by man. However modern life and business may tend to be judged by old values, creating a complexity of behaviour that is often hard to understand68, especially by the older generation that is Chinese educated. John Naisbitt in his prophecy book Megatrends Asia predicted that the unique strengths of Chinese business networks, able to make speedy decisions and able to obtain resources through connecting people would make the Chinese business model the ideal flexible form of social organization for the globally connected world of the future69. However this would assume that harmony doesn’t exhibit restriction on individuals from criticism of strategy, even though it may be constructive, as the practice of authority in Chinese companies means obedience rather than careful questioning of the status quo70.

Similarly, Buddhism as practiced in Thailand is often seen by many as a philosophy adverse to entrepreneurship. To the contrary, Buddhist teachings espouse the highest duty and ethics towards oneself and society as a whole when undertaking enterprise, also listing taboos on the types of enterprises that should be pursued. The Buddha gave five ways a moral person should be diligent to himself71. Through work, diligence and clear-sightedness where he could make himself and others happy, resources need to be utilized to prevent them from being dilapidated or destroyed through age, fire, weather or theft, he could make suitable offerings to those that need them and to abstain from pride, arrogance and negligence, to adopt patience and gentleness. Finally a person’s independence is an important means to finding inner peace and enlightenment for himself and those that depend on him.

The positive attributes exist, although they may not be observed in practice and not emphasised within an empowerment context.

World events and media portrayal of Islam over the last few decades has projected negative images, which are based on a total misunderstanding of Islam and the principals it encompasses72. Predominantly, Islam through many eyes is seen as a homogenous view of the world, where many elements of the media have stereotyped73 it as an extreme religion. This situation has not been assisted by the lack of published academic and intellectual thought74, which could assist in developing more balanced views about what the principals of Islam stand for. The focus of most published works on Islamic economics and business has been in the domains of finance and morals75, which leads most to the conclusion that Islam has little to contribute in the theories of empowerment and enterprise.

In a recent article by Raja Petra Kamarudin, he criticized Malay Muslims for being too focused on “Islamic practices” without accepting the “Islamic values”, “…Malays pride themselves on being good Muslims. ….. Malays are very ritualistic in their Islamic beliefs. They do not care much about values. It is practice that counts when it comes to Malays and Islam. Values don’t count. For that matter, the Malays do not even begin to understand what Islamic values are76”. Dr. Chapra in an on-line interview was very critical of the development of Islamic economic and business theories claiming they were unbalanced in their approaches. He was reported to state that “Primary attention has been given so far to Islamic Finance. This has led to the false impression that interest-free finance is all that Islamic Economics has to offer. Since most of the governments in Muslim countries are not yet convinced that interest-free finance is workable, excessive emphasis on it has created a resistance in official circles against Islamic Economics. They find it to be of little value. This is unfortunate. We must blame ourselves for this. Islam is a complete way of life and is capable of solving the problems of not only Muslim countries, but also of mankind”77.

The Al-Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who was born into a trading family and brought up by Abu Talib, who was a trader. Society in the Prophet’s time was almost totally dependent on trade as a means to earn a living and unlike any other religion, the Al-Qur’an is heavily written in the metaphor of business and trade. Within many parts of the Al-Qur’an life is paralleled to a business venture, where one earns profits to gain entry into heaven – profits meaning faith and good deeds to others and those that accept Allah’s (SWT) guidance as a bargain to save them from punishment on judgment day78. Islam urges individuals to strive their utmost to earn large monetary rewards and spiritual profits, while at the same time being inspired to be successful and honest people79. This is part of the concept of ad-din, which makes material and spiritual pursuits inseparable, where one’s whole life is concerned with the needs of humankind here on earth to secure a comfortable life in the Hereafter80. Consequently, Islam does not prohibit worldly success81, in fact Allah (SWT) has provided opportunities for humankind to obtain success and it is certainly the responsibility of the individual to do so82. However involvement in business should also carry with it benevolent intentions for others while seeking success for oneself83.

Islam espouses a market economy with freedom of the individual to operate a business with minimal outside interference;

“He who brings goods to the market is blessed with bounty, he who withholds them is cursed.”

(Ibn Majah & Al Hakim)

The essence of Islam is on man’s own efforts to advance himself before God will intervene:

“See you the seed that you sow in the ground? Is it you that cause it to grow, or are We the cause?”

Al-Waqi’ah 56:63-64

Culture has a large influence upon our cognitive perceptions. These perceptions will to a great degree drive our behavior. Perceptions are heavily influenced through the attitudes and beliefs we develop through our upbringing and integration into the society we feel we belong to. Our values and beliefs shape our views, where we try to fit what we sense in the world according to these sets of beliefs. This helps form our values, which are reinforced by artifacts such as symbols, story telling and group behavior. It is a complex and circular phenomenon where beliefs reinforce the artifacts and the artifacts reinforce the beliefs. This is why culture is hard to change because its elements act like bonding glue, pulling those who deviate back in, or if the bond is actually broken casting the individual out of the critical mass of the rest of the populace. Our values are based upon a set of conscious and sub-conscious assumptions that would seem to be shared throughout the community.

This simplistic model of culture highlights attribute sets made up from the assumptions, beliefs, values and artifacts of the society in question. Each set of attributes can be looked at as being either negative or positive in a dialectic sea that continues to ebb and flow within itself. Culture is a living entity, sometimes developing strong negative attributes, which are destroyers of culture, rather than enrichers of culture. So for example in the case of entrepreneurship, there is a set of positive influences (or attributes) and a set of negative influences (or attributes) within a community. The strength of each attribute will be different and even change from time to time as new information or events happen and are perceived through their shared cognitive ‘glasses’ within the community. The key will be; how to strengthen the positive and weaken the negative. With different strengths as is with water, air and solids, one can only work with what can be molded and shaped. Its easier to work with sand on a beach that granite on the side of a mountain. Leadership facilitation dialogue seems the best way to engage the unconscious assumptions within a communities culture.

Figure 5: The flow and Ebb of the Cultural Dialectic

1 Schumacher, E. F., Small is Beautiful, London, Blond & Briggs Ltd., 1973, P. 161.2 Porter M. E., Competitive Advantage, New York, Free Press, 1985, P. 3.3 Leve, L., “Failed Development” and Rural Revolution in Nepal: Rethinking Subaltern Consciousness and Women’s Empowerment, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol., 80, No. 1., 2007, pp. 127-172., see also Mohan, G., and Stokke, K., Participatory development and empowerment: the dangers of localism, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 21., No., 2., 2000, pp. 247-268.4 Goffman, E., Asylums, Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, New York, Doubleday Anchor, 19615 Rostow, W., W., The Stages of Economic Growth, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1960.6 Meier, G., M., Leading Issues in Economic Development, Oxford University Press, New York, 1964.7 Burdick, E., and Lederer, W., J., The Ugly American, W., W., Norton and Company, 19588 Thomas, Jr., L., Confessing to the Converted, New York Times, 19th February, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/business/yourmoney/19confess.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=59c686e6f96b0421&ex=1298005200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss, (accessed 4th December 2007)9 Perkins, J., Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Plume Books, New York, 2005.10 Sachs, J., The End of Poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime, Penguin Books, London, 2005, P. 266.11 Ibid.12 Ibid., P. 242.13 Quotations from an interview with Henry Mintzberg in Crainer, S., Key Management Ideas: thinkers that changed the management world, 3rd Edition, Financial Times, Pitman Publishing, London, 1998, P. 255.14 Asma, A., Going Glocal: Cultural Dimensions in Malaysian Management, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Institute of Management, 1995, P. 179. 15 Pearce, J., Small is Still Beautiful, Harper Collins Publishers, London, 2002, P. 16 Timmons, J., A., and Spinelli, S., New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, Sixth Edition, Irwin, Boston, 2004, Chapter 1.17 See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/06/24/DI2005062401071.html18 Chen, M., Asian Management Systems, 2nd Ed., London, Thomson, 2004, P.220.19 The Northern Corridor Economic Region Inititive was launch last July in Northern Malaysia. It aims to engage private ‘Government linked Companies” (GLCs) to organize production of small hholders in the Northern states of Malaysia. No studies have ever been undertaken to determine whether local farmers are willinging to except outside organizations controlling their lands in what are called ‘mini estates’. See Northern Corridor Economic Region Socioeconomic Blueprint 2007-2025, Sime Darby, Kuala Lumpur, 30th July 2007, P. 28.20 Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010, The Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, May 2006, P. 26.21 Ibid., P. 5022 Ibid., P. 52923 Ibid., pp. 81-8924 Ibid., P. 9925 Ibid., P. 8926 http://agrolink.moa.my/dpn/dpn3/nap_summary.pdf

Negative Attributes

Positive Attributes

Destruction

Growth

The Cultural Dialectic

27Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010, The Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, May 2006, P. Ibid., 9828 Ibid.29 Ibid., P. 99.30 Partly modified from Kee, T. B., Monoculture in Malaysia: Impacts, Potential Solutions, paper presented to Monocultures: Environmental and Social Effects and Sustainable Alternatives Conference, Songkhla, Thailand, 2-6 June, 1996.31 Ever, H. D., Gerke, S. and Menkhoff, T., (2006), Little-Understood Knowledge Trap, in Development and Cooperation, 33, (6), June, pp. 246-247.32 Shane, S., (2003) A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-Opportunity Nexus, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, P. 113.33 Amit, R. K., MacCrimmon, C., Zietsma C. and Oesch, J. (2001) ‘Does money matter? Wealth attainment as a motive for initiating growth-orientated technology ventures’, Journal of Business Venturing, 16, (2), pp. 119-144, Arabsheibani, G., De Meza, D., Maloney, J., and Pearson, B., (2001) ‘And a vision appeared unto them of great profit: Evidence of self-deception among the self-employed’, Economics Letters, 67, pp. 35-41.34 Bernardo, A. and Welch, I., (2001) ‘On the evolution of overconfidence and entrepreneurs’, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 10, (3), pp. 301-330.35 Private communication with Dr. K. A. Mastor, UKM.36 Shane, S., and Ulrich, K., T., Technological Innovation, Product Development and Entrepreneurship in Management Science, Management Science, Vol. 50, No. 2., 2004, pp. 133-144.37 Shane, S., and Venkataraman, S., The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 25, 2000, pp. 217-221.38 Von Hayek, F., A., Economics and Knowledge, Economica, Vol. 4., 1937, pp. 33-54. 39 Schumpeter, J., A., The Theory of Economic Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1934.40 Casson, M., Entrepreneurship, Business Culture and the Theory of the Firm, in Aces, A., J., and Audretsch, D., B., (Eds.), Handbook of Entrepreneurial Research, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 2003, pp. 223-246.41 Acs, Z., J., and Armington, C., The Impact of Geographic Differences in Human Capital on Service Firm Foundation Rates, Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 56, 2004, pp. 244-278.42 See: Scherer, F., M., Firm Size, Market Structure, Opportunity, and the Output of Patented Inventions, American Economic Review, Vol. 55, 1965, pp. 1097-1125, Audretsch, D., B., Innovation and Industry Evolution, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1995. 43 Jaffe, A., B., Real Effects of Academic Research, American Economic Review, Vol. 79., No. 5., 1989 pp. 957-970. 44 Belli, G., La Mujer Habitada, Editorial Vanguardia, Managua, 1988.45 Rath, J., Entrepreneurship Among Migrants and Returnees: Creating New Opportunities, Proceedings of the International Symposium on International Migration and Development, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United nations Secretariat, Turin, Italy, 28-30th June, 2006.46 Hunter, M., M., Innovation Through Systems Thinking and Themes in New Product Development, Australasian Journal of Cosmetic Science, in press at time of writing, 2007. 47 http://www.chooseorganics.com/industry.htm

Towards Revolutionary Empowerment

All of the elements to enable revolutionary empowerment exist and are being used today in some form or the other. It is not a matter of inventing or creating a new doctrine of micro-development at the village level, but assembling the parts into something that works. One Tambon – One Product (OTOP) is having some success in Thailand, with the model being exported to Vietnam and the Philippines, major food and cosmetic companies are adopting ethical and empowerment procurement practices to benefit communities, as a core part of their marketing strategies84, value-adding commodities like coffee through geographical differentiation85. Micro-finance schemes are in place in many countries to directly assist villagers86 and entrepreneurs in developed markets are seeking to deal directly with producers to market indigenous products in their own markets, as the Fairtrade movement is growing87. None of the methods and tools are new – it is the effect of utilizing them together, that would be revolutionary.

The objective is to create ideas that fit into the schema of the people living in a village, which builds enthusiasm and pride. This requires a diagnosis of positive and negative cultural attributes to understand the root causes, so that groups can be engaged to assist them in seeing new ways of acting in the world. Much can be learned from the work of Paulo Freire in this area. From an idea, opportunity must be seen and developed into a strategy that can be accepted and followed, according to the aspired lifestyles of the people. Markets must be identified and accessed utilizing the current means of communications, transport and logistics available (one must add here that the advent of the internet is one of the tools with the largest potential for empowerment – something that didn’t exist a little more than a decade ago). Resources must be acquired and exploited to enable the opportunity to be exploited. There must also be access to skill development forums, so groups can acquire the necessary knowledge to undertake a venture. The elements needed to create a village based venture are summarized in Table 4 below;

Table 4: The Required and Existing Elements of Empowerment

48 Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. and Hooi, D., H., Think ASEAN: Rethinking Marketing Toward ASEAN Community 2015, Singapore, McGraw Hill, 2007, pp. 73-75.49 Lienado, R., The Role of Fragrance in Product Development, HAPPI, June, 1984, pp. 59-60.50 Hunter, M., Efforts to empower the community through essential oil production in Sabah, in Proceedings of the Seminar on Community Involvement in Sustainable Bio-Resource and Biotechnology Utilisation, Sabah, Malaysia, 5-6th September, 2006.51 http://www.soap-wire.com/2007/02/nmi_reveals_top.html

Element Existence

52 http://www.answers.com/topic/aveda-153 Annual Report, The Body Shop 2006, The London Stock Exchange54 Information from Owner55 Estimate from various sources56 Hain Celestial Annual Report57 Andreski, S., (1983), Max Weber on Capitalism, Bureaucracy and Religion, London, Allen & Unwin.58 Gerth, H., H., (1968), Max Weber on the Religion in China, New York, The Free Press. 59 Chen, M., J., (2001), Inside Chinese Business: A Guide for Managers Worldwide, Boston, Harvard Business School Press, P. 23.60 Tu, W., M., (1984), Confucian Ethics Today: The Singapore Challenge, Singapore, Federal Publications.61 Tu, W., M., (1995), ‘Is Confucianism Part of the Capitalist Ethic?’, Stackhouse, M., C., (Ed.), On Moral Buwsiness, Grand Rapids, MI., William B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 409-411. 62 Fairbank, J., K. and Goldman, M., (1998), China: A New History, Cambridge, MA., Belknap Press of Harvard University.63 Chen, M., J., (2001), ibid., P. 21.64 Chen, M., J., (2001), ibid., P. 47.65 Koller, J., M., (1984), Oriental Philosophies, New York, Macmillan.66 Weidenbaum, M. and Huges, S., (1997), The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia, New York, Free Press.67 Gomez, E., T., (2004), ‘De-essentialising Capitalism: Chinese Networks and Family Businesses in Malaysia’, NIASyntt, No. 3., pp. 8-10.68 Bede, H., (1992), Understanding the Asian Manager: Working with Movers of the Pacific Century, North Sydney, Allen and Unwin, P. 10.69 Naisbitt, J., (1996), Megatrends Asia: Eight Asian Megatrends that are Reshaping Our World, New York, Simon & Schuster, P. 24.70 Backman, M., (2001), Asian Eclipse: Exposing the Dark Side of Business in Asia (Revised Edition), Singapore, John Wiley & Sons, P. 18.71 Saddhatissa, H., Buddhist Ethics, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1970, P. 107.72 Hafez, K., (2000), ‘The West and Islam in the Mass Media: Cornerstones for a New International Culture of Communication in the 21st Century’ Discussion Paper C61, Centre for European Integration Studies, Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universatät, Bonn. 73 Policy Bulletin, (2005), The US Media and the Muslim World, Atlanta, GA, The Stanley Foundation, January 13th. (Accessed at www.stanleyfoundation.org, 19th December 2006).74 Hassan, R., (2006), ‘Islamic world faces intellectual stagnation’, Asia News Network, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/11/04/opinion/opinion_30018026.php, (accessed 6th November 2006).75 Shams, R., (2004), ‘A Critical Assessment of Islamic Economics’, HWWA Discussion Paper 281, Hamburg Institute of International Economics, Hamburg, Germany.76 Petra Kamarudin, No Holds Barred – Heat on the Street, http://www.malaysia-today.net/nuc2006/barred.php?itemid=448, (Accessed 20th August 2007)77 http://www.financeinislam.com/article/9/1/432, (Accessed 17th December 2006)78 Al-Qur’an (35:29), (26:207), (17:82).79 Al-Qur’an (2:164)

Values Most spiritual doctrines and religions have very positive values towards enterprise, independence and empowerment. These have to be brought to the surface of some cultures or sub-cultures, i.e., refocusing on the functional rather than the dysfunctional aspects.

Confidence Confidence is a group phenomena and can be improved through engagement of group processes to achieve new ways of seeing.

Ideas The skills of ideation can be developed through access to communications technology and developing both partial and whole brain thinking.

Potential Opportunities

By linking ideas to markets, modes of entry, resources and skill needs, potential opportunities can be constructed.

Product Focus on themes rather than marketing mixes, look for ways to incorporate consumer fears, existence, acceptance, hopes and dreams in the product (spiritual materialism)

Markets Markets exist in various forms and segmentations with much more fragmentation, coupled with the ability to communicate are potentially accessible to village communities. Identify aspirations of consumers, connect products and channels to these aspirations.

Technology Technology is a way of how to make and do things. Product manufacture can be undertaken in scaled down models to suit decentralization, small unit output and flexibility. The focus is on how to do things in more cost effective ways, within the existing cultural socio-organisational setting.

Competitive Advantage

In many FMCG markets competitive advantage has more to do with theme, schema and branding, through selected channels of distribution, than economies of scale. The product is a fulfiller of dreams.

Skills Not all the skills taught at formal educational institutions are needed to start an enterprise. In this regard its only necessary to provide people with what they need from the point of view of business, product development and production. There is a need for the “village university” to focus on showing people how to see, learn how to do and connect to consumers.

Agency/Networks Through modern communications technology (internet & travel) it is now possible to contact and interact with very wide groups of people, including agencies of interest, customers, grant agencies and sourcing know-how.

80 Al-Qur’an (5:3)81 Al-Qur’an (2:168)82 Al-Qur’an (14:32-34)83 Al-Qur’an (24:37)84 See Innocent Drinks, UK, http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/85 See Starbucks social responsibility statements: http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/csr.asp86 See Grameen Bank: http://www.grameen-info.org/87 http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

Logistics Logistics have advanced in recent years and can be coupled together such as the internet and EMS to create direct logistic systems between producers and consumers.

Resources We have to learn to use what we have and utilize these limited resources innovatively. There are many methods of alternative funding that can be explored and set up, i.e., Zakat, unit trusts, closed equity markets, etc.

Organisation New forms need to be generated from often discarded forms such as cooperatives. Cooperatives can exist at both production and market levels. People can form their own companies under umbrellas, organizations should be focused on linking the young with their older generation. Coalitions can be sort with larger organizations in developed countries for branding and market purposes. Organisations have to fit with existing social schema and develop from there, as people are ready.

Positive values towards enterprise are required to motivate people to do things. Groups hold various values associated with fate and future, abilities, possibilities, and the rewards of their labours, etc. Any positive values that potentially exist within the majority of spiritual cultures are often immersed by other values developed through social and life interactions. Changing values is the most challenging aspect of empowerment. One must not make the mistake of trying to convert others to our own values, however noble we feel they are. This has been one of the greatest mistakes of those ‘trying to help’ in the past. A village may not be ready for a new industry, but it might accept a new idea to pass the time and earn some small extra income. Not all people want to be an entrepreneur in the sense we teach in conventional entrepreneurship programs.

The facilitation of change thus involves the creation of new contexts that would break up the old established patterns, in favour of new ones. Competing invisible forces (attractors) compete with each other to generate a situation where the group can travel along different paths in the future. The mentor must find the right place and time and facilitate new contexts that make the present paradoxes or contradictions irrelevant. Change becomes dialectic, where potential new futures have their opposites which are resisting any change, for example88;

Innovate ----------------------------Avoid mistakes

Think long term--------------------Live for today

Save money----------------------------Spend for the future

Work by oneself-------------------------Work as a group

Be flexible--------------------------- Follow rules and norms

88 Morgan, G., (1984), Images of Organisation, Newbury Park, Sage

Collaborate--------------------------Compete

Make your own decisions------------Make joint decisions

Changing values also requires a group acceptance of new sets of values and individual confidence in the group’s acceptance. This requires dialogue to build new consciousness. David McClelland, best known for his achievement model and work on power in organizations, also researched a person’s needs for affiliation. He found that the need for affiliation or intimacy with a group plays an important role in motivation89. There are various reasons behind the need for intimacy. Groups are perceived to provide a sense of security for individuals where there is some uncertainty, or fear of something external to the individual and group. Groups also provide individuals with a cognitive clarity (sense of how to interpret events around them) and a way to make a self evaluation and social comparison about the way they should dress, talk, think and act. Thus developing motivation, based on McClelland’s model and work with entrepreneurs in India, may best be undertaken within a group context90.

Ideas, shape the future of any individual, enterprise and village. It is ideas that have the potential to become opportunities and ‘going-concern’ ventures. Ideas come from information, which can be converted into knowledge. People must be taught how to access information and develop knowledge from it, through guided intuition, utilizing accepted strategic models as mental maps, rather than formal planning systems, which is closer to the reality of how managers of companies really plan91. Usually the first exposure to knowledge is news passed on from a friend, conference or seminar or some form of media, electronic or otherwise. There is no shortage of media reports and internet information, which can lead to ideas. These ideas must be filtered through the use of more factual information to screen the facts from the ‘hype’. Decisions need to be made on the best factual information available, which can lead to knowledge. Figure 6 shows the hierarchy of information that one has access to aid idea development and opportunity identification92.

To create knowledge, individuals and groups need to be taught thinking processes which can enable them to filter and arrange information in various ways, so as to learn and to see opportunities. The ability to think creatively is a catalyst in itself for change. This requires developing people’s ability to utilise the brain as a tool in analysis through both partial and whole brain thinking.

Figure 6: The continuum from media reports to wisdom in relation to availability and usefulness

89 McClelland, D., C., The Achievement Society, Princeton, N.J., D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 196990 McCelland, D., C., and Winter, D., G., Motivating Economic Achievement, New York, Free Press, 1969.91 Mintzberg, H., The Rise and fall of Strategic Planning, Hemel, Hempstead, Prentice Hall. 1994.92 Fletcher, R. and Collins, R., New Crops, in Salvin, S. Bourke M. and Byrne, T.,(Eds.), The New Crop Industries Handbook, RIRDC, 04/125, Canberra, 2004, P. 4.

Ned Hermann divided the brain into four separate sectors or quadrants with specific strengths, two on the left (A & B) and two on the right (C & D), as shown in figure 793. The left is more logical and the right works more with emotions, pictures and holistic concepts. A number of activities can be utilised to teach people how to move from quadrant to quadrant in their thinking processes. Within a group, some individuals will master a single or number of quadrants, creating thinking diversity of a group, which should be able to think collectively as a whole brain. This will enable explorers and detectives to search out opportunities, artists to create concepts and engineers to translate these concepts into reality through their solutions94.

93 Lumsdaine, E., and Lumsdaine, M., Creative Problem Solving, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1995.94 Arora, V., K., and Faraone, L., 21st Century Engineer-Entrepreneur, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 45., No., 5., 2003, pp. 106-113.

Ava

ilab

ility

Incr

ease

s

Usefulness Increases

Media Reports

Ideas

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

The Continuum from media reports to wisdom in relation to availability and usefulness

Figure 7: The Four Quadrant Model of the Human Brain (Adapted from Lumsdaine & Lumsdaine)

A

B

C

D

Visual Holistic Intuitive Innovative Conceptual Imaginative

Conservative Structured Sequential Organised Detailed Planned

Interpersonal Kinesthetic Emotional Spiritual Sensory Feeling

Logical Factual Critical Technical Analytical Quantitative

Number Crunchers Human Machines Achievement Orientated Performance-Driven

Administrators Bureaucrats Production-Orientated Task-Driven

Teachers Social Workers Feeling-Orientated Value-Driven

Entrepreneurs Explorers Future-Orientated Risk-Driven

International markets must be seen as a possibility to enter and supply. Ideas and products must fulfill consumers’ schema of fantasy to create differentiation and develop some form of competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is where the new market strategies of creating products according to consumer aspirations and using image and channels, to make those connections, adds value if these products can appeal to the ego. This is where real intellectual property can be created, thus providing a unique product proposition to consumers (see table 5). This requires the development of a platform of geographically based branding, such as the example of Sabah mentioned earlier in this paper. Suitable channels of distribution must be sort out which provide interaction between producer and consumer for maximum effect.

Table 5. Integration between a village group’s Core Mission, product/market typology and the specific Intellectual Property they create

1. Recognition 2. DesirabilitySelected branding paradigm to highlight the project’s offering and values the group stand for in the international marketplace. (see figure branding typologies). This branding should show natural (fully natural products)Organic, Sustainable production, Community involvement, cultural and religious identity, and within an ethical business framework.

Trademarks and certain Copyright Information

The product technology, i.e., natural, organic, cultural and spiritual aspects

should be reflected incorporated into the product. Thus the products require

specific new knowledge, process and protocols to achieve these ambitions.

Patents, Registered Designs, Proprietary Knowledge and branding

3. Form 4. Emotional ConnectionProduct manifestations must reflect

where and why the products exist through copy, materials and form.

Copyrights and Trademarks

The products should reflect the consumer ambitions for natural and organic

products with a cultural and spiritual base and understand their direct contribution

to the community.

Brands and Trademarks

Technology is the ingredient that makes concepts possible to be delivered to consumers. Technology also includes artisan methods of producing things that may have been forgotten or come out of practice due to perceived lack of demand for artisan based products. Ways of producing products at village level with simple equipment require development and this is where universities can assist through their commitment to community development, which is a statutory requirement in most countries. It would be good to see the day when students and ‘barefoot professors’ come down to the village again in a similar vain as Homer Atkins, to develop new innovations of existing technology that has great benefits to people. Its not necessary to invent totally new things – adaptation and re-engineering existing complex processes is what is badly needed in developing countries. Universities contain great amounts of knowledge that could benefit people and are almost totally underutilized. Through technology downscaling, production can be decentralized, thus allowing the maximum number of people to become involved.

Like technology, skills can be developed at the village level through informal and relevant programs. It is not necessary to complete a degree in engineering, a BBA or an MBA to be an entrepreneur. In fact many entrepreneurs have little formal education. Mentors rather than teachers are needed to share the learning experiences available through working on such projects. Villages need mentors, not teachers, who can share in the development and successes. People need to be shown what is possible, and if they

take the challenge, how to think, feel and develop things. The emphasis has to be on entrepreneurship education within paradigms acceptable to those that want to learn. Education has to return to being a basic right, rather than a privilege, aimed at developing individuals in communities where they live. Unfortunately, this is seen as revolutionary and requires givers to make it work.

Resource gathering needs revolution to enable empowerment. The current systems of finance available depend upon conventional business plans, collateral and experience. People have little knowledge of where to get grants and little ability to apply for them. Existing national grant schemes often make it so hard to get, many feel it is wasting time trying. So much government development money is going to development projects owned by the government, where it is hard to see how any people can benefit95. Within Islamic communities large pools of funds exist through the Zakat mechanism which could be channeled for empowerment. “Zakat revenue can be spent under tamlik mechanism for providing an opportunity or raising productivity of the poor. Viewed from the long term perspective the poor would become in time self-reliant, hense reducing the national burden of spending money on social security schemes.96” Likewise public structures like schools, mosques and community centres can be utilized for skills development and village meetings.

Marketing channels and the existing financial system can be utilized through the unit trust mechanism to collect subscriptions from consumers to fund venture development in rural areas. This would be a direct link between consumers and producers, where the consumers themselves could also become stakeholders in village enterprises and share the same visions and dreams. Many consumers are looking for such a spiritual connection and products can become a facilitator of their aspirations and dreams, assisting them in how they want to see themselves, through spiritual materialism.

Young graduates are the hope for future entrepreneurship in villages around the region, as the catalyst of change. They are tomorrow’s leaders and have a specific role to play in development. Students have access and knowledge to the information tools of our age. They are the potential mobilisers, liasers and leaders of village empowerment, should they choose to stay and do something. Graduates understand their own and also understand universities as a source of technology and can learn how to deal with relevant agencies for their cause. Graduates and the young are the only people who can build enterprises in rural areas in the future. Through linking all the elements together new organizations can be evolved that are based on the village model and link with consumers in developed markets in two way communication. Figure 8 shows what could be97. Due to the advances in communication through the internet, graduates and villages now have

95 Nor Baizura Basri, Terinai Eyes Traditional Medicine Market in India, Bernama.com, 24th December 2007, http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=304142 (accessed 24th December 2007)96 Khaliq Ahmad 2002 Intellectual Discourse Vol. 8, no. 2 (IIUM) 97 Hunter, M., Proposal Outline to Develop a Community Based Enterprise to Manufacture and Market Cosmetics, Personal Care, Household and Medicinal Products in Pattani Province, Thailand, Submitted to the Hon. Governor’s Office, Pattani Province, April 2007, Unpublished document.

Umbrella Brand (Marketing Company)

Network

R&D Support Cluster

Entrepreneurship

Ideas Opportunity Identification How to make

skills Market Skills

Foods

Herbs &

Cosmetics

Other

Traditional Products

Funding through

“prospectus”, Unit Trust,

Zakat, Closed Markets

Direct Marketing

Internet

Collaboration with larger companies

(MNCs)

Selected Markets

Potential Micro Finance to Producers

Organic Farming, Fairtrade, Halal, etc

unprecedented access to a wider international community of buyers, retailers, Fairtrade organisations and consumers directly, with which to communicate their intentions and seek support and customers; to advance the cause of empowerment to people in developed countries without third party agents.

Figure 8: Overall Producer, Marketing and Mentor Model

A producing company would be a democratic co-operative, of local producers, workers and collectors, mentored by professionals. The venture, will have ethical trade at its heart, working in partnerships with producers to first meet their nutritional, food and health needs, including local communities, have long term arrangements with the marketing company, and will act as a resource base for its producers/partners, fully supporting them in providing them with required services at their doorstep, leaving them to farm and on farm responsibilities. The aim is to provide a smooth, transparent, and fully managed

supply chain, from primary production, knowledge, management, adding value, holding capacity and ensure the ‘Cash to Cash Cycle’. The company would act according to the following principals;

1. Commitment to Social Justice in Organic Agriculture 2. Transparency and Accountability 3. Direct and long-term trade relationships built on trust and mutual respect. 4. Equitable distribution of returns to stakeholders5. Communication and information flow 6. Skills development and capacity building 7. Internal ethics, and8. Professionals manning the PC, support the local community98.

The cooperative would be committed to organic, integrated and sustainable production. The cooperative would be involved either in agriculture or in both agriculture and product manufacturing as part of the overall marketing strategy of the marketing company.

Finance for the cooperative will come partly from the marketing company which will channel funds according to the cooperatives designated projects.

The producing companies aim is to develop a share holding structure that is beneficial to all parties involved. It is hoped that key producers will become shareholders in the company, thereby becoming ‘producer partners’. Although PC will also engage in one-off trades with producers considered ‘non-partners’, the above benefits, and the option to become ‘shareholders’ and therefore receive a yearly ‘bonus’ .

Three types of shares are envisaged:

a. The Founder’s shares, which would be the majority initiallyb. Shares bought by large investors (which will not be sought initially)c. Shares held by producers, who would not invest other than with their products

and favourable pricing.

A central marketing company could exist for each market. The objective of the central marketing company would be to develop and control the market in each country and organize producers according to the needs of the market. The company would primarily be involved in product development in association with a university, organizing logistics from producers to the market, providing finance to producer units and undertaking the national marketing.

The management of the company would be by a small group of professionals, preferably post graduate students under mentorship. The organization would aspire to be a knowledge based company, which would compile and disseminate information to those

98 Principals set out for peoples companies by Dr. Subash Mentha, Bangalore, India, as communicated to the author.

groups that require it for smooth operations. The specific groups within the company would include;

Strategic group Management group Marketing group Product development group Extension group Resource sourcing group Direct Marketing (sales group)

Some Concluding Remarks

This paper has briefly looked at some of the problems facing many rural communities in South-East Asia. It has also briefly looked at a few methods and techniques which increase innovation. Finally, in either hope or naivety what could be is also touched upon. What is discussed in this paper does work in its parts and there is a challenge to assemble each part into a complete working model to prove this hypothesis. The author like a number of others is attempting to find ways to achieve this, often finding more setbacks and disappointments than successes. Failure to successfully convince potential stakeholders to commit to these concepts is a hazard of this pursuit.

Pursuing these ideas is mostly a thankless task, often on the receiving end of ridicule. It however is a deep learning process for any individual to take.

The journey continues………. Brief Biography

Mohd. Murray Hunter was involved in manufacturing, agriculture and marketing for 30 years in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia. He turned to developing social and development projects establishing new crops in Malaysia for small holder development and has also worked as a consultant for both the Malaysian and Australian Governments on trade and development issues. Murray’s activities in development have taken him to Sabah, the Northern Malaysian States and Pattani in Southern Thailand. Murray is currently an associate professor as head of the SME unit at University Malaysia Perlis and a visiting professor to the faculty of Management Science, Hat Yai Campus, Prince of Songkhla University and Faculty of Business, Hat Yai University, Thailand.