BIAC Archives

At OECD, Business Communicators Confront Challenges of Populism

Published on December 12, 2016
USCIB Vice President Jonathan Huneke (2nd from left) and heads of communications from other Business at OECD affiliates gathered in Paris.
USCIB Vice President Jonathan Huneke (3rd from left) and heads of communications from other Business at OECD affiliates gathered in Paris

With a populist wave of anti-globalization sentiment washing over many Western countries – or threatening to do so – Business at OECD (BIAC) convened a first-ever roundtable of heads of communications from its member federations, to discuss the urgent challenge of promoting informed discussion of cross-border trade and investment with an increasingly skeptical public.

The roundtable, which took place December 7 at OECD headquarters in Paris, assembled business communicators from a dozen OECD member states, including USCIB Vice President Jonathan Huneke. They discussed common – and, in many cases, unique – challenges they face in their own countries, and brainstormed ways to push back against the rising tide of isolationist and anti-trade rhetoric.

“It’s no secret that the election results in the United States, coupled with the Brexit vote in Britain and the recent popular referendum in Italy, have dealt a stinging rebuke to pro-trade forces, both in business and government,” said Huneke. “We need to marshal the facts, and develop more compelling arguments, in favor of open markets, multilateral cooperation and greater global integration.”

Participants at the roundtable met with Anthony Gooch, the OECD’s director of public affairs and communications, as well as Adam Roberts, European business correspondent with The Economist. BIAC Secretary General Bernhard Welschke also participated. One common theme that emerged is the importance of rebutting populist anger without appearing to talk down to voters who subscribe to it.

“Angry people often behave irrationally, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a rational basis for their anger,” Huneke noted. “We agreed on the need for policy makers to take voter unhappiness seriously and address its underlying causes, including insufficient opportunity and social safety nets in many countries. But we also know that it is our shared responsibility to develop more effective ways of helping people understand the broad, and indisputable, benefits of economic openness to society and to individuals.”

The OECD plans to hold a workshop for communications professionals involved in international trade in April 2017. More details will be shared as planning for the program develops.

While in Paris, Huneke also attended the annual Business Day at OECD, where BIAC members met with leadership and program directors from the 35-nation body to discuss a wide range of issues and priorities. Check back here shortly for a report on Business Day.

Business Welcomes OECD PISA Survey Results

Published on December 12, 2016

OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. In 2015 over half a million students, representing twenty-eight million 15-year-olds in seventy-two countries and economies, took the internationally agreed two-hour test. Students were assessed in science, mathematics, reading, collaborative problem solving and financial literacy.

Commenting on the public release of PISA’s 2015 survey results, Charles Fadel, chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Education Committee said, “Employers around the world value the importance of data, and PISA, as a unique instrument in its reach and quality, is the respected influential benchmark which BIAC supports.  However, as the world continues to evolve, so must PISA. BIAC will continue to collaborate with the OECD in expanding and improving measures in other skills and areas relevant for employability, such as entrepreneurship, engineering, creativity, critical thinking, ethics and leadership.”

Education and training are top priorities for business especially in a rapidly changing dynamic work place of today.  Investment in training and access to quality education for all are essential to foster innovation and inclusive growth in our economies. PISA is an important benchmark and comparative analysis towards this goal. The link to the 2015 survey results can be accessed here.

For further information on Business at OECD work on skills and education please visit: BIAC Education Survey and BIAC Character Survey.

BIAC Trade Committee Engages with Chair of OECD Trade Committee on Business Priorities

Published on December 7, 2016

Harbor_tradeOn November 3, 2016, Rob Mulligan, USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs participated as a Vice Chair in the meeting of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Trade Committee. He also attended the OECD Trade Committee meeting later in the day. The BIAC group received a briefing from Didier Chambovey, Chair of the OECD Trade Committee, on OECD’s key work streams and responded to questions from members regarding OECD’s work on digital trade, the future priorities for the WTO, and the nexus between trade and environmental policy. The BIAC committee also discussed updating its Trade Priorities paper to address the changing global environment and to include new issues for the OECD to tackle in its work. Members provided input at the meeting and a revised draft has been circulated for input with the goal of finalizing the updated paper early in 2017. The committee also agreed to update its papers on several issues related to Colombia accession to the OECD.

Business Engages With G20 on Employment

Published on November 7, 2016

youth_workingLeading governments and business organizations are redoubling their efforts to boost employment opportunities worldwide. On November 2 in Geneva, Linda Kromjong, secretary general of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), and Phil O’Reilly, chairman of Business at OECD (BIAC), attended an informal meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group.

That same day, USCIB president and CEO Peter Robinson took part in the inaugural meeting of the B20 (Business 20) Task Force on Employment and Education, of which he serves as a vice chair. The task force is chaired by Gerhard Braun, vice chairman of the German Employers Federation BDA. Key issues for Robinson in the task force include adapting to the future of work‎ and addressing youth unemployment.

In her remarks to the G20 working group, Kromjong highlighted the fresh approach that had been taken by China, during its year in the rotating G20 presidency, to rising global unemployment by focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. She underscored that a number of important initiatives of the Chinese presidency, such as the G20 Apprenticeships Initiative and the G20 Structural Reform Agenda, have the potential to contribute to more dynamic labor markets.

O’Reilly commended the upcoming German G20 presidency on its plans to closely engage with social partners, including the business community. He said business supports many of the ambitious agenda items of the German presidency and that it is exciting that the “future of work” has been put on the G20 agenda.

Gender Workshop Spotlights Importance of Education

Published on October 31, 2016
L-R: Nicole Primmer (BIAC), keynote speaker Julia Goodfellow, Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), former BIAC Chair Charles Heeter
L-R: Julia Goodfellow (University of Kent), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), former BIAC Chair Charles Heeter

On October 24 in Paris, Business at OECD/BIAC hosted its third workshop on gender equality, addressing the third “E” of the OECD Project on Gender — “Education.” The workshop presented business initiatives that promote lifelong training and education of women, explored questions related to soft skills and career preferences, and discussed the impact of the digital economy and developments in technology for women at work. This year’s workshop was sponsored by Deloitte and Dell.

The focus was on STEM education. Keynote remarks were delivered by Dame Julia Goodfellow, vice chancellor of the University of Kent, who discussed the differences in subjects studied by women and men at universities (almost 70 percent of students studying languages are female, while almost 80 percent of students studying computer science are men), as well as obstacles women face in the later stages of their careers.

USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg provided on overview from the business perspective. She recounted that the first BIAC gender equality workshop had focused on “Employment,” including the “leaking pipeline” of female leadership. The second BIAC workshop shifted its gaze to “Entrepreneurship,” addressing women in the ICT sector and key activities for companies around the world in supporting women entrepreneurs, such as providing finance, mentoring and leadership. Goldberg discussed how since these two workshops, progress on gender equality has not come as fast as desired. She said this is because changes involve not only policy, but also shifts in social and cultural attitudes.

The first panel was full of updates by ambassadors to the OECD from Canada, Germany and Chile, as well as from the OECD secretariat. They discussed the status of women at work in their respective countries, and outlined various initiatives taken by government to support girls and women in STEM fields. The second panel looked at soft skills, training and education, and how to leverage gender balance for business success. Speakers, including USCIB member Coca-Cola, discussed efforts to mitigate unconscious and implicit bias, the link between having female leadership to better understand consumers, who are often women, and once again, understanding the reasons for the “leaking pipeline” and how to prevent such leaks.

A working lunch was led by representatives from Deloitte, who discussed the lack of women in STEM subjects not related to healthcare, using the United Kingdom as an example, and how to change this outlook for women in STEM. Suggestions included starting in early schooling, by giving young girls greater exposure to female professionals working in STEM and mitigating unconscious reinforcement of gender stereotypes.

The last session centered on the impact of the digital economy — on women in ICT sectors, how companies are educating women on technology, and how both women and companies are using technology to grow professionally. ICT company representatives, such as USCIB members IBM, Google and Dell, emphasized the benefits of having female employees, and discussed individual company initiatives to encourage young women to enter digital careers. Speakers stressed the importance of encouraging young girls’ confidence about their skills in STEM subjects, and the importance of demystifying the actual skills needed to succeed in the digital economy.

BIAC will release a report of the workshop and the issues raised during discussions. Reports from the previous workshops can be found here.

Ensuring a Level Playing Field With State-Owned Enterprises

Published on October 24, 2016
USCIB's Eva Hampl speaks at an OECD meeting on state-owned enterprises.
USCIB’s Eva Hampl speaks at an OECD workshop on state-owned enterprises.

Last week at OECD headquarters in Paris, business representatives highlighted the importance of avoiding market distortions and maintaining a level playing field between public and private companies.

Two OECD workshops on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) focused on the twin challenges of preventing corruption and of SOEs as global competitors. BIAC/Business at OECD, part of USCIB’s global network, arranged for private-sector participation and released key messages for the discussions.

In the workshop on SOEs as competitors, Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director of investment, trade and financial services, discussed where the gaps remain and what can be done about them. She emphasized the importance of addressing the challenges presented by SOEs in a world that is hungry for investment — including foreign direct investment — and economic growth. To the extent that SOEs are now operating on a global scale, they can crowd out private FDI in a way that may hamper competition, including in third markets.

Because SOEs can take on many forms, one important issue is increased transparency on SOE governance structures, as well as any advantages they enjoy which tilt the playing field in their favor versus private companies. Increased transparency alone, however, does not resolve many of the underlying systemic issues of SOEs competing, and does not automatically level the playing field, business representatives said.

Transparency is important since SOEs can be a prime vehicle for corruption. “Many SOEs operate in sectors with high corruption risks,” the BIAC messages note. “The 2014 OECD Foreign Bribery Report identified state-owned or state-controlled enterprises as the single biggest category of foreign officials who were bribed.”

Business Presents Views on Health and Innovation to OECD

Published on October 21, 2016
USCIB's Helen Medina (center) and other members of the BIAC Health Committee
USCIB’s Helen Medina (center) and other members of the BIAC Health Committee

Ahead of a key OECD health ministerial in January, 10 private-sector health policy experts, including USCIB Vice President Helen Medina, met in Paris last week for the BIAC (Business at OECD) Health Committee, took part in a key OECD meeting on “The Economics of Prevention,” and exchanged views on health and innovation policy with selected permanent delegations to the OECD.

With several governments contemplating heavy-handed labeling and marketing restrictions on foods they deem unhealthy, the industry experts sought to underscore how much industry has done to address the health impacts of its products as well as consumer lifestyle choices.

“The fact is, industry has made robust commitments on marketing and advertising, and has reformulated products in response to public concerns about health,” said Medina. “Our goal is to ensure that industry can continue to innovate and contribute to healthy diets while continuing to provide a range of choices for consumers.”

Other BIAC experts emphasized that industry is not afraid of regulation, but wants governments to support research and innovation policies, which would also help smaller companies. They asked OECD governments to consider ways to improve the base of evidence regarding effective disease prevention tools and other interventions. There is a need, they said, for nutritional data and for an integrative comprehensive approach to foster healthy choices, lifestyles and sustainable diets.

The group held bilateral meetings with OECD missions including the United States, Australia and the Czech Republic.

BIAC Annual Report Showcases Role of Business at OECD

Published on October 17, 2016

biac_annual_reportBIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, for which USCIB serves as the American member federation, has just released its 2016 annual report. The report showcases the breadth and depth of business (including American business) involvement at the 35-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The 2016 annual report also marks the launch of a new BIAC logo aimed at solidifying the organization’s role as the voice of “Business at the OECD.”

BIAC Chairman Phil O’Reilly and BIAC Secretary General Bernhard Welschke write in the report’s introduction: “Productivity and inclusive growth have been guiding themes at the OECD in 2016. Throughout the year, and in hundreds of topical consultations, Business at OECD advocated measures that would strengthen the competitive environment in markets and enable the participation of all in our economies. We also contributed to the debates that helped shape international agreements such as the G20 Action Plan on BEPS, climate change and COP 21, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

Download the 2016 BIAC annual report here.

Talking Responsibly About Trade and Investment

Published on October 14, 2016

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The recently launched OECD interim Economic Outlook reveals global GDP growth is projected to slow marginally to 2.9 percent in 2016, and acknowledges trade as an important driver of productivity growth — enhancing competitiveness, enabling greater specialization and facilitating knowledge transfer. Against this background, Bernhard Welschke, secretary general of Business at OECD, called on the OECD and member governments to communicate the benefits of trade more responsibly.

Read Welschke’s posting in the OECD Insights blog.

Business Involvement Essential to Address Climate Change

Published on September 28, 2016

forest_greenAt the meeting of OECD Environment Ministers in Paris, business shared views on how to address major environmental challenges related to climate change and the transition to a circular economy. Taking place one year after the UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development and the Paris climate change conference, the high-level meeting offered an important opportunity to identify concrete areas of implementation to achieve tangible progress in these vital areas.

“Moving from words to action is critical, bearing in mind that green growth is not about curbing growth, but about making the two concepts mutually supportive,” said Russel Mills, Chair of the BIAC Environment and Energy Committee, who led the business delegation at the Ministerial meeting. Business must be recognized as an important provider of solutions and can make its contributions most effectively within a transparent and predictable policy framework that encourages market-based options and incentives. Concrete opportunities for partnerships must be encouraged at the international, national and local levels.

Business at OECD reiterated its support for further OECD work aiming to support climate measures at the lowest cost to society and to promote a supportive policy environment for innovation and investment across different sectors.