It gives me great pleasure to present this publication, which contains the keynote speeches and a summary of the main discussions during the ILO's first Enterprise Forum, held in Geneva on 8 and 9 November l996, and which was prepared by the ILO's Enterprise and Cooperative Development Department.
The Forum offered a unique opportunity for nearly 600 participants from 97 countries - entrepreneurs, managers of major enterprises, senior representatives of governments and employers' and workers' organizations, business schools and universities - to meet under the general theme of "Promoting social progress and enterprise competitiveness in a global economy".
After the welcoming address by the Director-General of the ILO, Mr. Michel Hansenne, and keynote speeches by Mr. J.-P. Maitre, Conseiller d'Etat of Geneva, and Mr. C. Smadja, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, the Forum proceeded to work in four major panels:
Panel 1: Implications for enterprises and the ILO of a changing world economy
Panel 2: Enterprises and jobs :
(a) Increased productivity and competitiveness
(b) Training for employability
(c) Job generation by micro, small and
medium-sized enterprises
Panel 3: Social initiatives by enterprises
Panel 4: The future role of the social partners at the enterprise level:
(a) Industrialized countries
(b) Developing countries and countries in transition.
The summary of the debate in these four panels are contained in this publication.
Workshops were arranged around the following themes:
Entrepreneurship and job creation:
- Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship
- "Committed entrepreneurial action against unemployment" (Case presentations) by the Union Internationale chrétienne des dirigeants d'entreprise (UNIAPAC)
New business paradigms:
- The vision and activities of the World Business Academy
- The Human Development Enterprise
Small enterprise development for the creation of productive jobs:
- Mobilizing large business to support small enterprises: The Kenya Management Assistance Programme (K-MAP) experience in Kenya
- The Finnish Enterprise Agency Scheme
- The ILO's "Improve Your Business" (IYB) and "Start Your Business" (SYB) Programmes.
Before and after the Forum, public lectures followed by lively debates were given by two of the resource persons invited to the Forum: Mr. T. Sattelberger, Corporate Senior Vice-President of Executive Personnel and Human Resource Development, Lufthansa Airlines (Germany), on "Globalization of the airline industry: The case of Lufthansa", and Mr. J. Nemoto, Chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (NIKKEIREN) and President of the Nippon Yuesen Kabushiki Kaisya (NYK shipping line), on "Global competitivity and social values: a Japanese business perspective".
Finally, an exhibition was organized in the ILO Building with several enterprises, particularly from Geneva, as well as ILO departments involved in enterprise-related activities.
I should like to express warm thanks to the Geneva authorities, the Geneva Office for Industrial Promotion and the Geneva Employers' Federation, the International Organisation of Employers and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, for their support. Likewise, sincere thanks are due both to the resource persons - moderators, discussants and speakers - and the participants who, coming from enterprises, universities, governments and workers' and employers' organizations and the ILO, gave a fascinating panorama of the world of enterprises and work of today - and tomorrow.
It is difficult to summarize in a few words the results of such a major and varied event as an Enterprise Forum; this publication will do better justice to the intensive activities which took place during the Forum. Suffice it to recall that the Enterprise Forum emphasized the need to situate both the enterprise and the human being at the centre of any economic activity. First, there was an urgent appeal from entrepreneurs to governments, workers' and employers' organizations and the ILO to foster an enabling environment for enterprises to create jobs. Investment, fiscal, training and labour market policies must be adapted to enterprises' needs if they are to create more job opportunities. To put it succinctly: what convinces an entrepreneur to employ one additional worker? Secondly, a strong appeal was made to enhance the central focus on the human being. This was discussed intensively in the panel on social initiatives by enterprises, and was also emphasized in strong statements by several speakers, such as the Presidents of the Mexican and Japanese employers' organizations and Mr. Smadja. The Enterprise Forum expressed great respect for the ILO's fundamental human rights Conventions.
As concerns the future, in March l997 the ILO's tripartite Governing Body will debate the policy issues emanating from the Enterprise Forum in such areas as globalization, enterprises and employment; small enterprises and job creation; the role of women entrepreneurs; the social initiatives by enterprises; and training for employability. A second ILO Enterprise Forum is proposed for May 1999.
H. Hammar,
Assistant Director-General