I believe that it is as well to listen to and learn from the philosophers. Even us economists have to pay attention to their reflections without falling into the temptation of thinking that we are wasting our scarce and valuable time when trying to understand their discourses. In a preconceived way we cast them to the confusion of the speculative world that we believe is far from the empiric, Pythagorean and mercenary reality that surrounds us. We locate them in the metaphysical clouds when perhaps it is the other way around.

On two different occasions I listened to a Professor of Philosophy, Rafael Alvira, explaining that the true economy and activity of different economic agents was not a sporting, aggressively competitive matter, but rather it was a question of musicality, of creative harmony. That is to say that he philosophised about the seemingly insignificant and pointless matter of whether the Economy should be a musical or sporting issue.

There is no doubt that we are in a society where sport, competitiveness, fighting, aggressiveness, speed, and the quick, overpowering victory prevail. The objective of strict competition is winning or profit. The pure form of competition is strength. In that open and unbalanced system that warrior conception stands out, that fights to open up a space in his own favour, to acquire it. Although rules and a referee exist in the market, if the background philosophy of the participants is radically selfish there is an innate tendency to break the rules and bribe the referee. If the predominant philosophy is savagely competitive, then corruption is unavoidable and it expands from the moment in which individuals and companies do not concern themselves with other people, with that which is social. Somebody will have to do it for them. As long as the managerial world is only concerned with competition, greater and greater social works accumulate on the State that becomes a great monopolising manager of all that is social, a legislator and referee at the same time. However, as the State has to recognise that it lives off the effort of the private companies and the workers that work, it is easy for the blackmail of the pressure groups to appear. Since the private companies as well as the different groups of taxpayers pay for example, they endeavour to treat them in the best possible way and, as the political winner has many cards in his hand, it is practically impossible to avoid the growing corruption.

As opposed to pure competition, collaboration and cooperation appear. The pure form of cooperation is harmony that has a lot to do with music. Harmony is always present in a system where there are no stridencies or drastic imbalances but rather where all the actors carry out their characteristic function in a coordinated way with regard to the perfection of the combined result. As opposed to aggressive characters, cooperation requires patient characters. What is necessary to do and to rehearse is that each element improves in its own function and with regard to the others. It is necessary to organize freely and co-ordinately, uniting the diverse harmoniously. The market also has much coordination, cooperation, and harmony. The division of work for example is impossible without cooperation. Many times the discordant and most strident notes come from the disproportionate, homogeneous and monopolising State intervention.

The viable exit is in the social responsibility of private initiative, in which managers think in cooperative and competitive terms at all levels. To compete appropriately on a higher level, greater cooperation is needed on the previous level and to really be able to compete it is first necessary to be competent.

For the professor Alvira a new management and a new manager has to appear that synthesizes the classic political wisdom (towards cooperation) with the ability to manage processes of change, and that has a global vision of society. Cooperation already exists and necessarily in the economy in general and in the market in particular. The whole problem is in the philosophy, the spirit, with which it is carried out. The key is in the managers being more cooperative domestically in order to be more competitive overseas and so that the State does not have to force it. Who would say that to be a good manager it is necessary to become a learned expert in directing the Viennese Symphony Orchestra. One lives and learns, sees and hears.

Joseph John Franch Menéu
Gaceta de los Negocios, Friday 16th July 1993