Jordan Times
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
New institute aims to sharpen
businesses' competitive edge
By Sarah McGregor-Wood
AMMAN — In a bid to improve companies' competitiveness as they struggle to deal
with a rapidly changing economy and an increased number of free trade
agreements, an EU-Jordanian joint venture has set up an advanced business
institute to offer management cadres of local companies internationally-recognised
development programmes.
A collaboration between the Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) and the
Euro-Jordanian Action for the Development of Enterprises (EJADA), the
Euro-Jordanian Advanced Business Institute (EJABI) will offer a number of short-
and long-term programmes, including an enterprise management diploma course run
by UK's Durham University.
“Effective management is key to business success and adapting to new economic
realities,” explained Hatem Halawani, chairman of the ACI. “We are offering
courses for all managerial levels in all sectors, focusing on small- and
medium-size enterprises (SMEs).”
With Jordan-EU trade barriers set to fall in less a decade, local business
managers are already under pressure to comply with EU benchmarking standards and
find ways to compete on quality and cost.
“This is not just another training programme focusing on a manager's functional
duties,” stated Tasir Hasan, the institute's director. “We're addressing the
roles they play as decision makers, entrepreneurs, representatives and leaders
in their company. We want to create a cross sector `profession' of management.”
Jordan has been sliding down the rankings of the World Economic Forum's
competitive growth index in recent years, falling from 41st place in 2001 to
48th this year. Quality of business management is one of the criteria used to
evaluate countries and the EJABI says it will address the gaps in this field.
ACI and EJADA had the idea for an institute to address management development in
2002, well before the most recent rankings were announced.
“This is not a concept that is well established in the Arab world,” noted Hasan.
“We are really adding something new.”
The institute is based in recently refurbished, state-of-the-art premises within
the ACI building and says it will also be using progressive teaching methods,
including student centred learning, mentoring and in-company training. Themes
dealt with on the programmes will include succession planning, turning family
businesses into global ones and forming international alliances.
“Eighty per cent of students' time will be spent in their businesses, not in the
classroom,” indicated management consultant Gene Crozier. “Using the potential
for distance learning, we want people to study real issues and examples within
their own businesses. By working that way, they see immediate payback.”
Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Isam Zabalawi officially
launched the project, noting that Jordan currently has over 5,000 SMEs.
“The word `ejabi' means positive in Arabic. I believe this reflects how we feel
about this initiative, and I hope to see many of the students on our Graduate
Enterprise Programme eventually enrolling in EJABI's courses,” the minister
said.
He also announced that the Higher Education Council is actively planning to
increase the number of MBA courses offered in Jordan.
Over a hundred representatives from Jordan's business sector attended the
institute's launch on Tuesday, and their response to the institute was generally
positive.
“Offering courses like these is like a dream come true,” stated Basem Saliwah,
mobile phone company Fastlink's training and development manager.
In response to concerns about the value added aspect of these courses over those
currently on offer in Jordan, and their relevance to Jordanian cultural norms,
Tom Boydell, a learning and development expert and keynote speaker at the launch
emphasised that the courses had been designed to be used in any managerial
setting.
“EJABI is not so much about European experts coming over and teaching Jordanians
static methods for problem solving, this is about people learning together and
adapting to an ever-changing business environment,” he explained.