PAKISTAN Inc

A country in more than many ways is like a multinational company.  For it to be successful, the company or the country should first of all have a world-class executive management team, i.e. a visionary, dedicated and a very capable team with diverse set of experiences.  For example, negotiating, inviting, hosting other multinational companies in your sovereign domain is no easy task.  You should know how to deal with them on a long term basis to mutual advantages.  If your hand is weak, very soon these companies will start acting like vultures.  If people in your management team have worked for other multinational companies let’s say for 10 years, they will have an exact idea how to deal with them and know how to work with them.  If people in your management team have founded and run small businesses, they will know exactly what it requires to create new businesses and in which environment they thrive.  If people in your management team have achieved things in their lives on their own, they will have crystal clear ideas as to how it can be done for others.  Therefore, a well selected, experienced with the right skills management team is of paramount importance for a company and for a country.  This cannot be emphasized enough.

Besides a solid management team, a country should have a good business model based on its intrinsic advantages, its natural resources, etc.  It should deliver serious economic value to it’s shareholders, i.e. the citizens of that country.  It should protect the long-term economic interests of its citizens, and provide them with opportunities to exploit their talents and get compensated fairly for them.  The system should be based on meritocracy and fair rules for long-term survival and growth of this company and to retain its good employees.  Within the company, there must be basic systems, infrastructure and processes in place such that the workforce is able to spend time on productive tasks, rather than wasting away time on unproductive tasks.

If the company is not sailing in the right direction, its citizens will start abandoning the country, which we have seen leads to brain-drain.  With poor quality work-force left behind, this company will not be able to compete effectively with the outside world.  If basic infrastructure of this company is slow, poor, unsystematic, and broken, its economic value will go down.

In short, there are many similarities and numerous lessons that can be learned as to how a country needs to be run by just learning how a company is run; there are obviously a few differences as well.  For example, it’s not easy to change your citizenship.  If you don’t like your company or want to quit your job so to say, you cannot easily do that.  In the context of a country, the management team cannot really fire unproductive citizens from the country.  However, by and large, it can be argued a country is very much like a company and should be run as such as well.

As established, if a country is a company, then judging the performance of its management team is relatively easy.  Is the economy really growing?  Is the standard of living of its citizens increasing?  Is the value of the currency of this country increasing compared to other countries?  Is the country providing its citizens basic services like justice, electricity, sewage, water, education, health care, economic opportunity, transportation, communications, etc.?  Are the citizens abandoning this country and seeking employment elsewhere?  Is anybody coming back to this country? Is the country selling its food to get foreign exchange?  Is the country constantly dependent upon foreign loans to survive?  Is the employment verification letter / passport of this country worth anything to the outside world?

In the case of Pakistan, the answers to most of the questions above are negative.  If we have a strong economy, the worth of the passport will go up automatically.  There will be no need to negotiate with foreign governments to give due respect to our citizens.  If we have a strong economy, we can protect our sovereignty relatively easily again without negotiating with foreign government or taking dictates from them for that matter.  If we have a strong economy, multinationals will come themselves to invest in Pakistan, etc.  The issues with Pakistan are 90% internal. I.e. internal issues of management and provision of basic infrastructure services by the government which is its primary and paramount function.

So the true test of the performance of the government of Pakistan can be judged by the economic and quality of life parameters mentioned above.  If they are unable to meet  or deliver them, then the shareholders of this company, i.e. the citizens should act via the board of directors, i.e. the parliament, to change the management team, i.e. the executive and bring those who are capable enough to deliver.  I firmly believe there are Pakistanis who exist who can achieve the requisite performance and turn-around this company.  The shareholders of Pakistan Inc should be brutal in demanding what is righteously theirs.  It is their birth right to have a good life while living in a land where they are born.