THE LOGISTICS AS GENERATOR OF COMPETITIVENESS

It is clear that the logistics at present it is winning each time but prominence in all the environments of the industry, and but specifically in which they handle production. But at the same time and of way not less important in businesses that lend services, of course even we are a little far from seeing the LOGISTICS not as a support for the competitiveness but like what really it is a generator of competitiveness.

We can expand the idea of how important is the logistics for the generation of competitiveness to level of every Colombia upon basing on what composes the strategy presented by the national government to achieve this objective. According to the document CONPES 3527 of June 23th, 2008, and in which the NATIONAL POLITIC OF COMPETITIVENESS is defined and analyzed in detail the competitive level of our country, (as they see us since the outside to level competitiveness) upon evaluating three international indicators of very common competitiveness which are the Index of Global Competitiveness, it prepared by the World Economic Forum (FEM), the Index of Competitiveness of the Institute for Management Development (IMD) of Switzerland, and the Index of Facility to Do Business (Doing Business) of the World Bank (DB). According to the last data, Colombia occupies in the FEM (2007) the position 69 among 131 countries; in the IMD (2008), the position 41 among 55 countries; and in the DB (2007), the position 66 among 178 countries, by this reason itself design a strategy which from 15 plans of action seeks to improve the competitiveness and to the productivity in our country, inside these features we find in ninth place the transportation and the logistics, which is deepened even but in the document CONPES 3547 of October 27th, 2008 in which the POLITIC NATIONAL LOGISTICS is defined and that basically it plants to fortify the existing logistic runners and to establish logistic platforms (there are planned 20 initially) just like the impulse of the constitution of Franco Zones to national level, and that apparently to given very good that to October 16th of 2008 already data of 37 were known new duty-free zones in the country, Cundinamarca having heading the list with 12 Franco Zones approved to this date.

Finally upon integrating the logistics to the development plan of our country we will reach the objectives to direct our level of competitiveness and productivity toward the excellence, similar case to it happened in China, who today for the present is the quarter economy of the world and considers to the logistic key piece for to be occupying this privileged place, by which invests millionaires sums year after year in this theme developing harbor, ferrous, river, and terrestrial, to such extent that is calculated that for the 2010 the 35% of the shipments of the world they will be generated from China and for the 2020 they included 100 thousand Km of railroad tracks including the railroad track but highly of the world in the Tíbet, (to 2005 the national ferrous network was of 1,991 Km approximately) but nevertheless every process of growth brings since to weigh their 41 Km of freeways (overland routes) and that besides to be planning to build 24 Km but, (the Colombian network arrives at 13,500 Km Approx. of which in good condition according to INVIAS there are 6,327 Km) they turn out to be insufficient them, without including the problems of handling and loss, they generated of the different documents required in each state, and to enumerate only one but we find the splits of the human talent, according to David Barriga, president of the Colombian firm of consultancy in strategic management and of business between Asia and Latin America, Asia Business Strategy Consulting, for the 2010, they needed 400 thousand professional people in the theme of Logistics and alone the universities are preparing to 10 thousand.

It is important to see an example as these, since Chinese is a developing country just like Colombia, but the logistic costs of transportation can arrive to reach the 40% of the total cost of the production, while in an alone country developed slope the 4%, and worse even the transportation of the merchandise can come consume to the 90% of the time of the productive cycle, It carries to conclude that the major motor for the Chinese expansion was the need, since resulted but inexpensively to send a product from Shangai to New York, that to send it between two Chinese cities only 1.658 Km as they are Chengdu and Shangai.

I think that upon seeing the Chinese example, and to continue closely their process to fall not in the same errors we will be able to carry our country to the excellence, in fact and according to the data delivered recently by the minister of commerce Luis Guillermo Plata our country reached a figure record in foreign investment upon managing to attract capitals during him 2008 by USD$ 10,574 million growing in a 16,7% this and coming to constitute the 4,4% of the GDP of the country, so in spite of the current environment we have multiple opportunities without exploring even, and of the hand of the logistics we will be able to do of our country a highly productive place but in a competitive way.