The World Bank believes it has the answers. The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s banner story today shows a list of measures the International Finance Corp., the private sector development arm of the World Bank, is urging the government to adopt.
Do you agree with the IFC? It says the Philippines is weak especially in the areas of starting a business, property registration and ability to access credit.
In a nutshell, IFC suggests that the government should:
The proposal on the credit information bureau is particularly interesting because at the moment, lenders are keeping their own counsel on who is creditworthy or not. Why would they share that kind of information with their peers, no matter what they say publicly about “working together for the good of the industry.” The absence of a good database on potential borrowers makes it easier or bad borrowers to get a loan and raises banks’ past due loans.
Who is the end loser here? The banks to a certain extent because their image gets hurt, but more so good borrowers who get higher interest rates and a longer time to process loans because of more documentary requirements and credit history checking. At least, that’s how bankers explain the situation.
Unfortunately, getting that reform done will depend on Congress, where the road to an important bill can twist and turn like a supertyphoon dancing with another supertyphoon.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:29 am
“carlo, good for you! this means we can opt not to get involved with their hanky-panky.”
Very Well said Salve! Hear Hear!
January 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
“One-day market positioning session” for business start-ups
Mind Bullet Inc., a direct to consumer communications PR firm in the Philippines, introduces its “one day strategy session” aimed at helping predominantly start up enterprises and companies position themselves properly in the market.
At the launching of its website, http://www.mindbullet.org, Mind Bullet leverages market positioning as it applies to new business. President and CEO Eero Brillantes elaborates. ‘What we have done is to concentrate on key market positioning subject areas appropriate for start up businesses. With some preparatory time, a session would last a day with a measurable market positioning program as output. After the session, we present our strategic recommendations. After that, it all nurturing time spread over the period a program is being implemented. ”
Brillantes emphasizes the need for proper positioning as necessary to roll out new business.
“Now more than ever, market positioning is a major activity for any new business to succeed or even become dominant in a market. As a process, market positioning encompasses certain factors essential to roll out strategies and launches. Identifying real value, actually owning key words and phrases in the consumers mind, and establishing consumer relationships based on human interaction is what market positioning is all about”.
Brillantes mentions that a lot of new businesses spend so much resources on capital outlay and tactical marketing campaigns only to be frustrated.
“How many times have we seen owners of businesses spend on equipment, expertise, and marketing gimmicks which do not give real value. It just so happens others have spent on these also. The same equipment is bought. The same media-marketing mix are employed. Similar corporate philosophies and business models are cascaded throughout the organization. But if you look closely, a lot of spending go to expenditures which do not anymore provide the competitive edge needed to succeed. Many factors of competition are already at parity. Yet this type of mistake is common. ”
For his part, Nestor Mijares, Accounts Director at Mind Bullet says that nothing beats owning real estate in the mind of consumers.
“With so much information out there, and a galaxy of options for consumers, how do products and services stand out if these are new? Owning a word or phrase and relating this with what is offered is the most powerful outcome of any in market positioning strategy. Done properly, positioning makes a product, service, or individual stand out in the crowded market place and even at times dominate . Pushing the envelope further, proper positioning opens up new markets.”
December 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
purevoid, that’s the thing. as of now, our government is so fond of red tape.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
bopols, from LGU to national…hmm..i like your recommendations but that’s like moving from the fire to the frying pan. Sigh. Next election, i hope the electorate is educated about this.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
carlo, good for you! this means we can opt not to get involved with their hanky-panky.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
chat, i’ve heard about this too and this has been corroborated countless of times from many different sources. what’s with the fire equipment suppliers, huh? how much were they asking, around 15%?
December 20th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
atlas_shrugged, how i wish local chief executives will see how simple it really is to get votes–efficiency, good services (roads, water, electricity, schools). di ba? just imagine how much better the economy would be if a massive improvement on a huge scale can be made to make it simpler and easier to incorporate! are you based here in Manila? which LGU do you think does this best, based on your experience?
December 18th, 2007 at 7:25 am
In the documentary film “call of the entrepreneur” the proponents basically expressed that a government needs only to encourage, support and protect entrepreneurs and most every economic problem of a nation can be solved. Entrepreneurs, by nature, can handle the details and obstacles as long as they are not restricted by red tape and whatnot.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:54 am
IFC is very right. Our leaders should start less politics and buckle down to business. We are a happy people and what makes us sad is too much politics that breeds corruption and more politics and more greed and corruption.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:18 am
i think thats right .i think it’s thr time for the congress to drop a bill that wuold enhance the living status of the filipino… its time to stop politics … a agree about the recommendation of ifc it would really work…
what we need is responsible gov’t that cares for the masses…
December 5th, 2007 at 4:11 am
I do agree what the world bank say. A long time ago I was planning to open business in the Philippines to my dismay I been asked half million dollar just to get business license, Plus 10% of income. Duh…..How many people in the these idiots victimize. To me Philippines is not a good place to do business. To many corruption they’ll eat up your income.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:15 am
I agree with all the recommendations of the IFC.
I suggest that we set-up a national single window that will handle business registration, cargo processing, inter-agency information exchange, credit information..etc. Two step procedure (encoding and approval) in a work flow environment should be implemented in our licensing and permits issuance agencies to make it fast, simple and efficient.
Accountable forms should be standardized and harmonized where a national id and a credit id for bank transactions should be considered as the two key data elements in every electronic form. These two ids are needed to provide a robust unified system for the government that will allow cross-reference validation, seamless on-line processing and timely executive information system.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:31 am
to chat
I have encounter such problem in fire safety permit. bcoz i am too a sole proprietor in my business. on my 1-2 years operating without a business permit, because of that damn fire man wont issue me a certificate unless buying thier fire extinguisher. finally i decided to buy my own, searching for businesses that sell fire extinguisher. i bought what they recommend that i have to have 2 (20lbs) fire extinguisher. I refill my two tank for only 35/lbs, while the fireman said 75/bls. I refill it at 35/lbs and let them see that i have my fire extingsher with official reciept of the company where i refill it, they don’t have choice but to issue me my FSIC = Fire safety insepction certificate.
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm
My brother is an entrepreneur and has a lot of horror stories on registering with the BIR and local governments especially in fulfilling the fire safety requirement. Local governments are not particularly efficient and some staff members blatantly ask them to get their “recommended” suppliers for fire equipment etc.which is not really required. While these things have not deterred larger organizations to put up businesses, smaller, one-man-operation businesses get discouraged, and instead operate without the necessary permits, BIR registrations, etc (leading to lost govt revenue).
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
[...] check out Salve Duplito’s post on what will improve the business climate in the Philippines in Open for Business. By Joey Alarilla Feedbacks on this entry via RSS 2.0 Please leave a [...]
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Hi Salve,
I have a friend in Singapore who registered his entire company online while sitting at a coffee shop!
While we can do some of the preliminary work of incorporating a company online, it is still a very tedious process and it seems like very few people are opting to do it. We also need better information on how to incorporate so that we can lower the barriers to starting new companies.
Apart from incorporation, the whole process of doing BIR, DTI, barangay registrations etc. is still very confusing. Even for someone like me who has incorporated 4 times already.