Conference
How to detect growth opportunities in an emerging economy
LIMA, PERU, | 10 FEBRUARY 2020 – The World Trade Center Association (WTCA) and San Ignacio de Loyola University held an international conference, regarding growth opportunities in emerging economies, by AgustĂn GĂłmez Barrios, MSc.
This activity was opened by Juan Carlos Mathews Salazar, Vice-president of the WTCA Lima, who highlighted the relevance of conferences such as this, since they allow gathering lessons from experienced professionals who can read market trends, understand the impact of new technologies and globalization on the economy and the way of doing business.
AgustĂn Barrios offered his perspectives from his professional experience, emphasizing the development of human capital as an engine of innovation and the means for productivity improvement. Despite the growing popularity of “STEM” as an educational method, which focuses on teaching from a scientific perspective, considering areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, he proposed the development of “socioemotional abilities” as a priority of an educational agenda.
Quoting Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Barrios explained that the time in which we live now is the best because globalization allows us unprecedented opportunities for development. Similarly, he claimed that it is the worst of the times because – despite widespread globalization– there are still waves of [neo]protectionism, populism and ill-conceived approaches regard inequity.
Barrios explained that due to modern scientific-technological capabilities, the United States industrial output has doubled from the last century while using 40% less labor. This has been made possible by the continuing advances in innovation and the adaptation of businesses to new developments, as companies are forced to take advantage of technology to survive. In this context, he recalled the case of Blockbuster and Kodak – companies that were no able to adapt to new changes and ended up [almost] disappearing.
Regarding new ventures, it is necessary to do more than just identifying a consumer´s need, since it is necessary to identify how the consumer’s imagination can be captured; this way “more added value” can be endowed to the product. All this in service of increasing the “generation of wealth”, since – Barrios states – “(wealth) it is not distributed, […] is generated”; adding that welfare becomes unsustainable in the long run and that efforts must be focused on generating greater wealth, having as a pillar the development of new companies and innovative business ideas.
Doctor MartĂn Santivañez, during the closing of the conference, emphasized the necessity of working together with other countries to achieve solutions to common problems: “We need that the Mexican Vasconcelos join the Peruvian Riva AgĂĽero, that the thinkers, intellectuals, politicians and entrepreneurs come together, look for meeting points and look for strategic alliances, to work together, do things together.