Is Phl ready for ASEAN integration?

CEBU, Philippines - As the country preps up for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) economic integration in 2015, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) still have to work on their management system and skills development in order to be competitive in the global market, a consultancy firm noted.

Edgar Paca, managing director and principal consultant of Quality Consultancy Services Philippines (QCS Phils.), said that unlike large-scale companies, MSMEs are not willing to invest into systems that are in accordance with the globally-accepted standards.

"They are thinking once they invest, they have to let go of money to pay high for the management system and learn without minding that they will gain returns afterwards. They are not thinking that they can afford qualified people for their companies," he said.

Although he cited market familiarization as a strong advantage for MSMEs, he added that they still have a long way to go to work on their competitiveness level.

"They know the market and they have what it takes to grow but they are not grabbing chances. They do not want to go out of their comfort zone. Either they don't want to develop themselves or they don't have the manpower to delegate the system," he stated.

He also brought up the wrong practice of MSMEs of hiring people and making the system dependent on the skills of the people they have hired instead of the other way around, thus defeating the purpose of building the company.

In terms of competitiveness for manpower resources, he said that employees of small-scale businesses require support to develop their skill competencies to be qualified to maintain and implement the company systems.

"Without the training, it is hard to have the system in place. Why not uniform their skills in accordance with their system?  Our aim as a company is to let them invest on skills development of their people since it is difficult to look for qualified personnel nowadays," he added.

He said that as of now, the local MSME community is still 25 percent prepared for the ASEAN economic integration, thus encouraging them to act in developing their human resources, implementing a uniform system and improving their products.

"A well-managed company will also lead to confidence, loyalty and satisfaction of their customers with quality service and system present, thus avoiding delays and complaints. Having the system in place with the developed, qualified and competent people is an edge for sustainability of the business," he said.

Meanwhile, Filipino-Cebuano Business Club, Inc. (FilCeb) president Rey Calooy echoed the same sentiments as Paca, saying that it is time for local MSMEs to implement global standards and compete with other countries in the international market.

He, however, cited that small-scale businessmen find investing in a system too expensive and difficult to adopt.

"MSMEs are not yet open-minded with the global standards. They have the wait-and-see attitude. Once they are struggling, it is the only time that they will act. To be honest, we are really not prepared for the ASEAN integration this 2015," he stated.

Less than 10 percent of the local MSME community is involved in system implementation and skills development, he said.

Calooy noted that although the business organization conducts trainings and seminars for its members, it is better to acquire professional help exclusively from a consultancy company to further improve.

He cited that only four members of FilCeb are involved into system implementation and skills development, thus encouraging more member companies to do the same.

Such initiative, he added, would contribute to a greater possibility for small-scale entrepreneurs to grow and make it big in the industry.

"It may be expensive but it's worth it. Besides, it is not hard to sustain. There are a lot of possible clients who could partner with you, hire services from you or buy your products since the system that you have is what they are looking for," he said.

Calooy invested for a management system for his distribution company RNC Marketing and sought the help of QCS Phils. last year. /JMD (FREEMAN)