Symmonds: Poor business standards threaten competitiveness

Poor business standards risk damaging Barbados’ reputation and limiting its ability to compete internationally, Business Development Minister Kerrie Symmonds has warned, calling for stronger regulation and greater attention to safety and service quality.

At the launch of a Standards Sector Project workshop at UWI on Thursday, Symmonds said the country would have no footing to compete with larger economies unless businesses improved their operating standards.

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“I hate to have to keep saying this publicly, but in many things that we do our standards are unsatisfactory,” he told representatives from the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries, the Barbados Employers’ Confederation, the Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) Council and other organisations.