Understanding The Philippines And Why It Must Engage In International Marketing

Image taken from Business Jargons

I remembered the time when I had a lecture with a no-nonsense international marketing teacher and exporter who warned about the problems of too much economic restriction and the refusal to participate in a healthy amount of free trade. The more I think about the international marketing subject, the more I think Filipinos need to understand the need to participate with the international market both local and abroad.

I hate to admit it but many Filipinos have a very uneducated view of economics. If you think about it, I've noticed rallies happen a lot during school days or a lot of these activists are usually out-of-school youths. Whenever I was in the classroom taking down notes or having an exam some of them even hold their stupid protests. Some members of those annoying Filipino leftist groups are attending rallies against foreigners instead of attending their classes or purposely skipping exams to please their stupidity. I feel sorry for the parents of those idiots especially many of them come from lower income families. Some of the rallies I can remember (in part) usually occurred because of the promise of investment. They always have that stupid view of foreign investment equals foreign invasion and that the OFW phenomenon means that Filipinos are taking over the world.

I would really want to talk about why any nation needs international marketing with a healthy amount of both free trade and economic restriction. We might take a look at developed countries - all of them allow 50% minimum to 100% maximum percentage of ownership in terms of intangible assets but smaller countries do not sell land to foreigners. China may sell land to foreigners but only at a limit but they allow foreign investors to own at least 50% and above of ownership in contrast to the 40% for foreign owners in the Philippines. Are foreigners ruling over the developed countries? In contrast to what those idiotic leftists say that foreign investment equals foreign invasion they might want to see that in countries with high foreign domestic investment, the government rules over the foreigners. As long as no special treatment is given to either foreign investors or local investors then the foreign firms don't take over. That's because even if a foreign firm has 100% ownership but if the owners refuse to follow rules, they can still be kicked out of the country.

Now let's take a look at reasons why we need international marketing. As you read through each reason, remember I just learned them from the subject of international marketing. I don't need to be a rocket genius or a doctorate to understand these stuff.

The Philippines has high potential for a strong labor force that not all local investors can hire them

So what if the Filipino laborers will be under a foreign boss? Even if their boss is a foreigner, that foreigner must still bow down to the Filipino government and follow the rules of the land. Anywhere you go, follow the rules of that country. The problem of the Philippines is a severe lack of employment which has led to the OFW phenomenon. When Filipinos fly around the world, they are not conquering the world. They are asking for jobs from the rest of the world because their country lacks the jobs that they need creating more and more broken family units. Most of them end up with abusive employers and the Middle East is a real suicide zone.

If you think about it foreign investment would be better than OFW reliance. As it is said, if you are in Rome, do as the Romans do and in Greece, do as the Greeks do. When the foreigners invest in the Philippines they agree to bow down to the Philippine government and its rules. When you invest in another country, you agree to abide by that country's rules. Just think which is better for the Filipino. Would you want to serve a foreigner in your home country or in their home country? If a foreign boss mistreats a Filipino in the Philippines it will be much easier for the Filipino government to intervene than if it it happened in his country.

Foreign investors means more revenues

I previously mentioned about the potential labor force, now it's time to talk about revenues. The more businesses a country has registered in its database, the more revenue potential is developed in the process. Every business that invests in a certain country must pass through customs. That means they must pay all the necessary offices like the City Health, City Hall and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to get their business started. Even if they are granted 100% ownership in terms of intangible assets, they must still comply with the requirements or they will be declared as illegitimate businesses.

Only somebody so stupid would think that buying from foreign companies stationed in the Philippines won't remit any taxes in the Philippines. It's plain stupid because as a patron of Kentucky Fried Chicken I can assure you every last fried chicken I bought there is made in the Philippines because it was cooked in the Philippines. The whole establishment was registered with all the necessary offices of the Philippines. They have their Tax Identification Number registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue meaning they must pay their taxes. Every time you buy from these foreign companies investing in the Philippines you still contribute to the Philippines revenue from businesses.

Exchanging of products and services balances supply and demand

When I think about materials, not everything can be found in the Philippines or any other country so there is always the requirement for import and export. The Philippines has never been known for pioneering in machinery so it must import machinery to produce its local products. When I look at local establishments they all need those imported equipment. Even those leftists are using imported equipment to carry out their nonsense propaganda. Don't tell me that Marikina shoes does not use imported equipment or some imported materials or I'd be laughing. When I think about buying local stuff I am sure that imported equipment or some imported materials were used in the production process. In short, it's all about meeting both supply and demand which allows more affordable goods and services because when supply is high, prices must go down.

Let us just think about certain materials for the food industry. Tropical fruits only grow in tropical climates and non-tropical fruits only grow in non-tropical climates. It made me think about it that any buying and selling benefits both sides. The Philippines is known for its sweet mangoes and Taiwan is known for its sweet lychee. Now I believe there has to be a limit of export and import and that every country must make sure export exceeds import so both countries can still enjoy their local products and that's a healthy amount of economic restriction. Now let's think if a Filipino businessman exports mangoes and imports lychees, there is a cycle of give and take that allows both sides to benefit each other in a buy and sell cycle. Filipinos would be able to enjoy locally made lychee jelly and Taiwanese would be able to enjoy Filipino mangoes without having to fly to each others' country.

Exchange of knowledge about countries

If you think about it, if the Filipinos did not do any trading at all, do you think the Philippines will ever go beyond the stone age? Even before the Imperial Spaniards took over and named the archipelago as the PHILIPpines after King Philip I of Spain, the natives traded with the Chinese, Indians and Arabs to name a few. The Philippines with all the trading involved had its contemporary culture defined. You may think how much of Filipino culture was also defined by trading with Chinese like the use of umbrellas, slippers and silk. Even after the Spanish colonization and later, the Philippines gained its independence on July 4, 1946 the flow of foreign influence still continued.

Today, international marketing brings in a culture of exchange. When you decide to form a reasonable joint venture of having at least 50% and higher, you get yourself a foreign partner that will help you navigate that strange new land until you are ready to go 100% unless you love your local partner so much. When you think about it the multinational corporations even learn more of the culture as some of them seek to be Filipino in the Philippines and Taiwanese in Taiwan. Just think how China modernized overtime from its traditional society to a more modern society - it was because it got engaged on economic liberalization.