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Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS) is a professional
association representing selected entrepreneurs and
employers operating throughout Slovakia. It is established
on principles of ethics, transparency, consistency,
solidarity and legitimacy in business.
The main objective
of PAS is the improvement of formal and informal business
environment rules in Slovakia within the broader context
of society development.
PAS was founded
in on November 15th, 2001, by the Centre
for Economic Development and the Institute
for Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO). Unique
merger of profit and non-profit sector guaranteed that
intellectual capacities of the non-governmental organisations
together with practical experiences of business sector
will be used to achieve the goals.
The main feature
of PAS activities is that they do not follow individual
interests of businesses or branches, but interests of
the business sector as a whole. The principle of public
goods' administration is fully pursued in the implemented
activities. The aim is to improve the conditions of
doing business for all who operate on the market.
Organisation structure
The Alliance has a two-tier structure.
The Policy
Board (PB), which belongs to the first tier, comprises
representatives of twenty Slovak companies that have
been practising the principles of ethics, transparency,
consistency, solidarity and rule of law in business
on a long term-basis. PB is the supreme body of the
Alliance. The Board defines the strategic orientation
of PAS. The Board is led by the President
and Vice-presidents
of PAS, which are elected from PB members for a period
of one year. PR members elect Executive
Director and the Executive
Board members, which manage and coordinate all activities
of PAS.
The second level of PAS is represented
by its Panel. Panel is constituted by all members of
PAS. It is open to anyone interested in taking part
on PASīs activities and meeting prescribed criteria.
Members of the Panel are entitled to take part on events
organized by PAS and use its products free of charge.
Members of the Panel have the right to join the Policy
Board subject to the fulfilment of defined criteria.
This ensures that future strategic decision making will
not be limited to only those entities that were involved
at time of PASīs inception.
President
is the highest representative of PAS. Executive
Director is the highest executive of PAS.
What values are recognized by the Alliance?
The Alliance is based on five pillars
- ethics, transparency, consistency, solidarity and
the rule of law.
Ethics in business means that a
company is making great effort to operate as a respectable
player in a market. If a company closes a contract with
a partner, it will observe it. If there is any chance
to break the contract and cheat the partner, the company
will not take advantage of the opportunity and misuse
it despite knowing that it would not be disclosed. The
company will not cheat the partner because the company
itself would feel apprehended to do so. A fair approach
and integrity are simply the basic, fundamental values
for the company. Managers run the company in such way
that brings value for the investors, customers, public
and ultimately the whole external environment in which
the company operates.
Transparency evidences the fact
that a company has nothing to hide from the public.
Of course, no company would disclose its business policy
or detailed strategic vision because its future prosperity
in the competitive environment is based on them. But
a company does not hesitate to make public its economic
results, publish annual reports and answer questions
of journalists. Its shareholders or its stakes in other
companies should be no secret. The company expects to
see the same transparency on part of its partners and
it wants to get detailed information from the State
on its decisions.
Consistency means that a company
recognizes specific internal values. It acts according
to its own principles. The company refuses to abandon
them in spite of the different behaviour of surrounding
entities. Although the company operates in an environment
where corruption is prevailing, it rather suffers a
financial loss then to succumb to external pressure.
Employees of the company are asked to observe the internal
rules, too. The company tries to disseminate the principles
among both its business partners and state institutions.
It expects politicians to convert their promises, based
on the same principles as those recognized by the company,
into reality.
Solidarity forces a company to
help entities which are unable to help themselves. A
part of the company's earned money is spent by it on
charity. This type of approach is not a marketing instrument,
but the result of a sincere effort to help weaker entities.
The rule of law is needed by both
entrepreneurs and the State. There have to be clear
rules guaranteed by the State. If the rules are not
observed by entrepreneurs, the whole society suffers.
Entities violating the rules have to bear the responsibility.
The State is obliged to create explicit regulations
and to ensure law enforcement through particular institutions.
If the State wants the rule of law to be respected by
companies, it must observe laws as well. Sound and stable
legal norms that can be reliably and operatively used
in litigations, if any, are an imperative.
Why was the Alliance established?
In countries like Slovakia, the setting
and improvement of formal rules is regulated by the
principles of parliamentary democracy. The majority
in a parliament makes decisions on legal norms. Because
of recurring four-year electoral periods the goals of
governmental politicians are often differ from the interests
of economically active entities creating the country's
wealth. The ambition of the Alliance is to influence
subjects of key importance in such way that they adopt
outright, applicable and stable legal norms. The Alliance
wants regulatory institutions to perform effectively
in the country and governments to follow a generally
accepted vision overreaching four-year electoral terms.
The companies' representatives understand
that the economic growth and the quality of life is
directly determined also by the existence and further
enhancement of informal rules in a society. Economic
theory addresses the issue of public goods. The cleanness
of a common stairway in a tenant house could be a good
example for illustrating this issue. Every tenant wants
to have clean stairs, but on the other hand, everybody
expects somebody else to be responsible for keeping
them clean. Although the rational approach would be
to leave this duty to somebody else, more appropriate
for the whole society is the opposite approach. The
stairway will be clean if somebody begins to clean it.
Societies in which there is a critical mass or group
of individuals ready to assume the responsibility for
public goods, experience significant improvement in
the quality of public goods. The ultimate goal of the
Alliance is that the principles of social morality are
adopted by as many economically active entities as possible.
What does the Alliance want to do for
Slovakia?
The Alliance as an apolitical association
intends to operate in Slovakia on a long-term basis,
independent of the political situation in the country
and the international position of Slovakia. The Alliance
adjusts its activities to the needs of the whole society
but at the same time the activities are always geared
towards the fulfilment of the core goal of the Alliance.
Improvement of the business environment,
the main goal carried by the Alliance, is not a mere
matter of prestige. The Alliance underscores that a
business-friendly environment is an imperative for boosting
economic activities and thus the growth of prosperity
of the country. At the same time, the Alliance is aware
that along with the new laws and other regulatory measures
the inner approach of entrepreneurs must change as well.
To separate the enforcement of written
laws of high quality from the enforcement of commonly
recognized rules in a society is impossible. The experiences
of many renowned Slovak lawyers confirm that laws on
their own are unable to ensure improvement of the business
environment. If a dishonest entrepreneur decides to
cheat his business partner, he will always find a way
to do it without violating any particular law. If the
inner motives of an entrepreneur remain unchanged and
if he has no problems with his own unethical behaviour,
the introduction of stricter legal norms itself will
change nothing. Although high quality laws are an inevitable
prerequisite for the creation of a favourable business
environment, the attitude of free market participants
plays an equally, if not more important role. If an
entrepreneur decides not to break or misuse laws but
strives to be honest, fair and transparent, it will
give him a good feeling inside as well as bring an economic
effect. The aim of the Alliance is to maximize the number
of such entrepreneurs in Slovakia.
It is not by coincidence that the most
prosperous countries in the world are those with the
most developed business environments. The effort of
the Alliance should not be seen only as a matter of
business prestige - it wishes the citizens of this central
European country a better life.
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