De-synchronisation effect

American writer, futurist and the author of ‘Third Wave,’ Alvin Toffler said in his book ‘Revolutionary Wealth’ (2006) that world economies like the USA, Japan, China and the European Union are heading for a crisis none of them want.

The looming crisis is said to be a direct result of the ‘de-synchronisation effect’. For example, the way we mindlessly deal with one of the deepest of our fundamentals: Time.

Taking the USA as an example, in chapter 5 ‘The Clash of Speeds,’ he says that American companies/businesses are moving at 100 miles per hour on a figurative highway and is in fact the driver of many transformations in the best of society. Companies are moving so rapidly that they are forcing suppliers and distributors to change parallel – all driven by intense competition.

This results in another factor he says, where one would find firms speeding to alter their mission, functions, assets, products, size, technology, workforce, customers, internal cultures, etc.

In the world of business, technology blasts ahead and along with it, finance and accounting systems. But when we look at the rest of society, where does it leave us? According to Toffler’s analysis, political structures in rich countries are moving at a mere three miles per hour as opposed to business.

He says that US political institutions, from Congress and the White House to political parties themselves, are being bombarded by demands from more and more different groups, all of which expect faster reaction times from systems built for leisurely debate.

In America the government bureaucracies and regulatory agencies are said to be sputtering on a slow lane at 25 mph. The American school system is at 10 mph and at five mph is the collection of organisations involved in global governance, such as intergovernmental institutions like the United Nations, IMF, WTO, etc., says Toffler. If this be the case in the USA, what can be expected from a country like Sri Lanka?

The speed at which various sectors of society move is a crucial factor in a country’s development. A few years ago there was a popular slogan being bandied about – that local businesses have to be the ‘engine of growth’ for Sri Lanka.

I believe that Sri Lankan companies have done a lot in the direction of gathering speed. Then again there is something that is stagnating growth beyond a certain point; the reason for this is what both the policy makers and business need to get to the bottom of.

Are there institutions within the growth system that are impeding speed? For example it is encouraging to see the statement made by the Minister of Health that the new drug policy to be implemented next year would be designed taking into consideration “new technology and commercial aspects”.

For years now a certain NGO has persisted in pushing late Dr. Senaka Bibile’s drug policy which was formulated in 1973 (during a time Sri Lanka had a closed economy) as the basis on which the new policy should be drafted. The Minister of course thinks otherwise and says it will only be considered as a guideline and other factors would also be considered.

We cannot expect business to become the engine of growth of any country and move at 100 mph while support groups of that country are moving at far lesser speeds. As we examine the various sectors in our society another area that is moving at a lethargic speed is education. While we have thousands of schools, the question arises as to what they are gearing the next generation towards.

And what about our universities, what are they churning out? In most cases graduates who come out of our local institutions have no clue as to how they should operate or even get on this vehicle moving at 100 mph; an education system that takes more time than any given international average in the world and yet with such end products.

If a standard undergraduate program takes three years, our universities with all their strikes and la-di-dah would take much more. International students would finish this level at an age of 21 or 22, whereas in Sri Lanka university students pass out well past their 25th year.

What have to be taken note of here are the growing mismatch and the desynchronising of time. Whether it is using outdated policies, students taking more time to get their basic education, or the lethargy and red tape in state institutions, all of this slow down progress and can go towards retarding growth. And in countries like Sri Lanka where businesses are run both by the government and the private sector, harmonising these two entities is a must for the overall growth and well being of the country.



Corporate bodies are dynamic when it comes to cutting their losses and crucial decisions are made at board level as to who they will or will not do business with. For example, what if the best pharmaceutical companies in the world refused to tender for government business stating lack of transparency and bureaucratic red tape? It would be the common man who would stand to lose as quality drugs would not go into the state run medical institutions.

Or, what if private companies designed formulas that steered their business away from government partnership? All of this may not sound ominous now, but it will have an impact on our growth rate because the government-private sector synergy is an important driving factor in pushing levels of excellence.