Competition influences society, and it is very significant both for an open market economy as well as the development of the national economy generally, because competition between participants in the market creates a need for innovation, which encourages the development of goods, services and technology.
Working in an international environment at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, I have come to the realisation that it is possible to create a competitive product or service when believing in your team and working collaboratively. I won’t refer to the negative affect collaboration can have on competition: for example, the creation of monopolies etc. I have worked with the Swedes for twelve years and have learned much from them. The democratic, horizontal Swedish management style and group working principles are valued throughout the world. The Swedish leadership phenomenon has two main features: firstly, maintaining professional relationships, which are strictly divided from personal ones, and secondly, mutual trust, which stimulates workers to greater productivity. For example, a football club in England chooses a Swedish coach not because Swedish knowledge of football is better, but because a Swede would be a professionally capable leader and distinguished psychologist. Everything is simple – we are working together to achieve our goals, and we jointly take on responsibility for the result.
In Latvia we have historically lived in separate farmsteads, but in the 21st century this farmstead principle is a hindrance – we have countless political parties, initiative groups, unions, agencies and boards, but we can rarely create an effective team and achieve a good result. Consultative boards have been established at various levels, to create collaboration between branches and institutions, however, when I have contact with these boards, I see that they are formality, because people lack the interest, openness and motivation, and our collaboration is only a formality, lacking in fervour. Additionally during fifteen years of independence we have not lost the fear that our ideas will be stolen, and this stops us from being open. Most of the people who have been successful haven’t thought of fame or money, but have been ‘obsessed’ by an idea, shared it and listened to criticism or advice, which has allowed their idea to become reality. Ola Ahlvarsson, one of the most successful businessmen in Sweden, admits that the most important part of a competitive enterprise is not the idea but its execution. This is why, no matter how paradoxical it seems, we can only be successful competitors in an international environment when we come out of our farmsteads and start to collaborate. Small countries, in which there are only a little more than 2 million inhabitants cannot become closed, because otherwise we ‘stew in our own juice’.
In Latvia there are many intellectually powerful and creative people, but they also live in their farmsteads: these personalities have assumed that they themselves are local stars and maintain this myth. Something becomes unalterably defined as “real science or real art”. Nevertheless for the general development of the national economy, core studies and also practical studies are both equally important, as is visual art and trades. There is a need for time in which to gain an understanding about that which is distinctive, and it seems that youth at universities are more open to collaboration, they are less scared to trust and have more tolerance.
I see universities as a directional force, like laboratories, in which you can work on new discoveries together with students. In the ACRE project, under the sixth framework programme of the EU, “Accommodating Creative Knowledge – Competitiveness of European Metropolitan Regions within the Enlarged Union”, which was begun in October 2006, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga is working together with 12 other European Universities, and in four years time comparative studies will be undertaken and recommendations will be prepared for the formation of partnerships between strong local institutions in Riga, to encourage the effective utilisation of creative knowledge in the strengthening of the competitive potential of Riga as a metropolis. Riga as one of the capitals of the EU nations has a huge competitive development potential. As Richard Florida’s study of the creative cities (Creative and the Creative Class, 2005) claims, the large, industrial cities of the 1950s–70s in the USA are now depressed and languishing, while cities with talented people grow and develop. What is needed to encourage this kind of environment is tolerance of difference, including ethnic, religious and sexual orientation. In the USA creative people choose to live in cities which are open to alternative thinking and creative people, this is how Silicon Valley was created and why San Francisco and Seattle are among the most economically strong cities in the USA.
How do we create a responsible and open personality, tolerant and oriented towards collaboration? It is similar to the rebuilding of an old house – it requires more time and more investment in materials then building a new building. People are placed at the centre of the National Development Plan (NDP), they are considered to be the largest and most important resource. Now that the NDP has been approved, it is necessary to develop an action plan and to carry it out, and we must start with education. For example, the Scottish Arts Council developed a strategy for education and lifelong education for 2004–2009, apportioning special significance to the promotion of creative personalities and to artistic education generally.
It is good to have new ideas, but on a daily level, coming in contact with various absurdities or problems, I must admit that our society could be encouraged to improve the simple things. For example, Térvete – a beautiful place rich in cultural heritage, also located in an economically wealthy region in Latvia, where people go for excursions from March to November. But, except for walks, there aren’t any other opportunities – there’s nowhere to eat, to purchase information related to this region or about Anna Brigadere. Whether we are talking about the development of design, infrastructure or the region – these issues are not divisible, and in this context I view design more as a strategy – not functional design, which allows you to sit in a chair more comfortably, although this is also necessary. We should not copy American amusement parks, but simply improve the ones we have. There are so many underdeveloped things, which after improvement will show us what needs to be done further.
Text prepared by Ilze Martinsone