MERGED: RP among most restrictive in foreign investments?

[DailyCore]

Some local donut makers (mostly individual food/cooking enthusiasts who sell at the barangay/village level) find Krispy Kreme's successful launch very troubling. It was hard enough for them to attract local buyers' attention with Dunkin Donuts and Mr. Donut operating, and the death of Gonuts Donuts was not helpful to them. KK is their newest headache and they can only wish that local LGUs should ban such "foreign" enterprises here.

[gareb]

@Nelson28: economic problems are always very profound as it affects everyone.

@Eve's Apple Project: that's a bit off topic, but that's a nice idea. in the US, they have the independent Better Business Bureau for consumer reference.

i have some reservations against the efficiency of DTI in evaluating business practices (as they can't even seem to handle the flood of fakes from everywhere). besides, this can alleged as another of those "business unfriendly" measures with yet another set of rules for accreditation/recognition.

i have always believed that regulation should be a ground that should be carefully tread on, as done wrongly it will jeopardize businesses and the entire economy as a consequence.

[Eve's Apple Project]

Sorry bout the ot. I got carried away..hehe

Ont, i once had the chance to talk with our CEO, & i asked him why our company has no business in the phils when in fact our operation is all over asia & the world ( keeping in mind he hired 4 pinoys- including myself- to handle designs side by side with american designers). His answer was simple, corrupt practices in our govt & also the lack of ambition in the side of our local businessmen. That is the same answer i get from our american designers & the VP's that i had conversation with. I can't blame our local businessmen not being too ambitious, they just want to fly under the radar. I am working in the furniture industry & believe me when i say we are hopeless. Unless our gov't will intervene, our furniture industry in going done the drain.

[gareb]

@Eve's Apple Project:

corruption is always a perennial problem which is a consequence of lack of accountability and an disproportional power.

for us to be in line with the topic, corruption is exhibited in many ways; two of which is to

• strangle business to promote big government (hence influence and political power to the ruling class and clans), or to
• promote the interest of the business sector to ease the way for the ruling clans' business ambitions, or as a token to the business sector who supports their rise to power.

what should be considered is that these two means to control business can be used interchangeably, or both at the same time.

when i say government intervention/regulation/support/subsidies, these terms are used under the context of a government that is accountable to its people. this means that the interest being forwarded by a government is that of the entire nation, and not just the ruling class or political dynasties.

[Eve's Apple Project]

I totally agree with you bai but there is a way to make the government bend for the local businessmen. If the local businessmen only work together, i bet they can do it. I had this discussion with a my mentor in usjr. In the furniture industry (of which cebu was known to be good at years ago) we have an org called cfif, but frankly speaking i doubt they are useful other than setting trade shows. Cfif is a big org that you could've wish they'll do more.

Ideas i raised to my mentor was

1) the cfif or a group of companies buy materials in bulk ( since that is the only way to buy materials
cheaper). Why has this not happened? Because of competition. We are competing against each other. Chinese, spanish, american, pinoy factory owners here in cebu just doesn't really care about the industry. Afterall, at the end of the day what matters most is that their pockets are full.
2) why not plant our own trees in cebu. Raw materials are often bought outside cebu like mindanao, sometimes bought illegally. But why is that? DENR? Its ok to buy from mindanao but if you look at cebu, lapad og opaw na ang atong bukid. Laktod pagkasulti, wa nay gamit atong bukid so why not use it? Cfif & dar/denr could've work together.

Yes, it is hard for foreign investors, but it doesn't make it easier if our local businessmen doesn't work together. They are too busy thinking of themselves. Most businessmen can afford to send their kids to study abroad but they can't afford to expand the industry & make it sustainable for the next genreation of businessmen.

[gareb]

@Eve's Apple Project:

exactly. as i mentioned, the root of corruption is lack of accountability and inequitable distribution of power. if a sector (business, labor, education, etc.) will not organize and show that they can be a force to be reckoned with by acting as one, any attempts to change the status quo would be futile.

the problem with raw materials is essentially a logistical problem which is not really just limited to sourcing out materials locally by local manufacturers. the same problem is also being faced by TNCs and MNC's when they look for cheaper sources of raw materials and labor, hence outsourcing, importing, and worse, convincing us that are can greatly benefit from opening up the legs of of our economy even wider.

[Nelson28]

kung naay CHACHA murag mao ning usa sa ilang gusto usbon..

[inxss4]

OK ra man unta ni mga bro pero ang nakaparat kay mga INTSIK raman pod ang mga dato kay i-monopoly raman pod ni nila.....dapat ang maka benefit gyod unta ani mga negosyante nga mga pure PINOY pod gyod unta di kay mga Intsik.....It's about time nga ang mga pure PINOY nasad ang mo asenso kay I know daghan nasad mga Pure Pinoy nga negosyante.......Dba? sakto ko?

[amingb]

Okay ko sa Open Economy, why ? coz filipinos dont have the Guts its all chinese anyway ... para dili lang chinese apilon nalang nato tanan aron dili nila ma monopolize ang economiya ...

kinsa may pure Pinoy diha maka afford ug 60% share for Project Worth 1 to 10 Billion Dollar ....

[gareb]

OK ra man unta ni mga bro pero ang nakaparat kay mga INTSIK raman pod ang mga dato kay i-monopoly raman pod ni nila.....dapat ang maka benefit gyod unta ani mga negosyante nga mga pure PINOY pod gyod unta di kay mga Intsik.....It's about time nga ang mga pure PINOY nasad ang mo asenso kay I know daghan nasad mga Pure Pinoy nga negosyante.......Dba? sakto ko?

Okay ko sa Open Economy, why ? coz filipinos dont have the Guts its all chinese anyway ... para dili lang chinese apilon nalang nato tanan aron dili nila ma monopolize ang economiya ...

kinsa may pure Pinoy diha maka afford ug 60% share for Project Worth 1 to 10 Billion Dollar ....

this mentality is a problem that we have. we see the Filipino-Chinese as successful in their business ventures and we want to exclude them in any grant nationwide economic plans, seeing them as the "enemy".

what we have to understand that the Filipino-Chinese community has greatly contributed to the economic development, albeit this being unbalanced. with their capital, they have launched companies that provided us with products that we consume at our convenience today.

yes, the Filipino-Chinese is a dominant economic force today. and yes, their clique is quite exclusive. this exclusivity is done for practical reasons. Trust from kinship and affinity is as big form them as it is for us.

but our economic problems and us findings solutions should transcend that as our fates are intertwined. if we go down, they go down as well, as we are the consumers for their products/services.

the first step is to have a definite list of problems that we face on both business (especially agriculture) and labor sectors. address these problems one by one (lack of capital, business environment, CARP, low wages, job security and tenure, etc.) and we are on our way up.