CECILIA M. Ordoñez grew up seeing her parents meet American buyers, procure materials for orders, and package gift baskets and other products for shipping abroad. Amo Philippines Inc. was established in 1973 by Cecilia’s parents as a typical cottage industry doing gift baskets. The business grew and the company would join trade exhibits here and abroad. Cecilia and her siblings helped out in the company in finance, production and sales.

While working for the company, though, Cecilia observed that management could have been stricter in running the company. The high level of inventory could have been controlled more. Controls could have been put in place to prevent pilferage. To make cash management more effective, cash advances to employees could have been given less freely.

And so when Cecilia, a marketing graduate of De La Salle University and MBA graduate of the University of Asia and the Pacific, had the opportunity to put up her own business, she made sure she adopted measures to lower costs and allow for flexibility by not being tied up with fixed costs. She put up Cecilia Josef Gift Collection (CJGC) in Mandaluyong City with business partner Joseph G. Aguiting two years ago to fill in the market demand in the housewares industry.

CJGC exports midrib peacock buri chairs, nursery chairs, baskets, and premium gift packaging items. It also caters to the local market by supplying the gift packaging needs of companies. Ninety-nine percent of its clientele are based abroad—U.S., Italy and Spain, among others.

Learning from her experience at her parents’ company, Cecilia implemented the following measures to protect the bottom line:

1. Do away with middle staffing. CJGC has a lean organization. The partners are hands on in the business, with Cecilia overseeing operations and sales, and Joseph overseeing finance, staffing and management.

2. Have no warehouse. Without a warehouse, fixed costs are kept to a minimum. Products are made as orders come in.

3. Send people to the origin of materials or merchandise. Since the products used for their items are indigenous, production is made where the materials are procured, and in many cases this is done in the provinces. Trucks are sent to these “centers” to pick up finished goods. Prototyping is done in the Mandaluyong office, though.

4. Hire subcontractors at the place of production. In this way, the organization is kept lean while providing jobs in the countryside.

5. Be strict with quality control. Rejected output are accounted for and charged against the worker.

“We developed our own business model,” says Cecilia. While the measures may seem radical to the pioneers, they may just be the things needed to survive and stay ahead in this highly competitive industry.