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Magazine Dried Fish
Latest Edition There must be in the small, colorful bits and pieces s pac er

that come with marking a holiday that enables them Coin Pouch
to generate a festive air and inspire joy in the heart.
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Whatever makes these minutiae do what they do, it

seems drowned in the cheer they create and in the Carpets
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enough and in that their reason for being and Mazapan de Pili
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smallness and because of what they’re made of,

these things are not given much moment. It can’t be Dehydrated Pineapple
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and rather empty without them. Though cheer may Choco-Covered Pastillas
Address: not directly flow from them, cheer being an internal de Leche
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do have a good part in creating the effect. Baskets
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City, Philippines 2330 When we see the streets, public places and homes festooned with lights Pickled Papaya
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Christmas tops the list. When colored lights deck street trees, wound about
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whatnots, all in attractive colors, are tacked on and hang from the eaves,
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info@winner-tips.org of glory at home, the bubbling of cheer cannot be kept down at the sight.
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International Affiliates These ornamental bits and pieces, lumped as one under “holiday decor,” s pac er

have grown into a big industry, and, while they are the lightest handcrafted
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items among the ever widening array of handicraft groups, among them
gifts, arts and crafts, fashion accessories, houseware, and furniture, they
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are not necessarily the simplest. Many of these bits and pieces, though Tamarind Candy
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that only long honed skills, patience and a meticulous penchant for Handwoven Vests,
attention to detail bring off winners from out of the long and elongating line Blazers and Jackets
of products in a highly competitive field.
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Holiday décor products, and the industry, can be described as one which s pac er

features a wide variety of ideas and designs, fast moving and as fickle as
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fashions in garment. The name of the game is creativity, and there is
always room for new shapes and concoctions, innovations and new
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material. Designs and concepts come and go and then, much like fashion, Wine Boxes
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VIEW ALL
Piece for piece in terms of price, holiday décor items expectedly are the
lowest among the handicraft groups, but it is amazing to know that sales of
these bits and pieces and whatnots have snowballed in 2005 to US$6.4 Local Links
billion global business worldwide. This business sector has been “averaging
a modest 6% yearly growth” in the last survey period spanning 2002 to
2005. More than half of that volume of global market, no less than a 64%
slice, were made up of Christmas décor and related items. Only 23% went
to items for Easter, Halloween and other festivities, while 13% of the pie
went to holiday lights and other lighting sets.

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WINNER-TIPS - Trade Secret of Women’s Enterprises: Stay Small, Go Big http://www.winner-tips.org/article/articleview/1055/1/16/

A study visit at the F.A.M.E. International Exhibit 2007, one of the yearly
industry exhibits regularly held in Manila as part of the country’s product
sales blitz efforts, provided a closer look at the holiday décor industry.

According to Ms. Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes, assistant secretary of the

Department of Trade & Industry, FAME 2007 was the 46th edition of the
product display extravaganza sponsored and worked out annually by
country’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions. As in
previous exhibits, the extravaganza was a collegial effort put together for
the country’s small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in collaboration
with business support organizations of participating industry sectors.
Visitors are treated not only to a sampling of holiday decors, but at the
same time also to a choice in the latest concepts and designs in fashion
accessories, gifts and houseware, arts and crafts, and furniture. Foreign
buyers and their representatives are given an early free run of the place for
shopping and trade negotiations, before the exhibit is declared open to the
public.

Through the years a tradition of holding two such exhibits every year has
been established, one in April and the other in October or November, with
special related events intervening between the two major ones. The dates
are set apart to give logistical space for sales, production and shipment
time within each season. The November canto looks forward to market
demands in Easter and Summer next year, while the April edition
anticipates requirements in Halloween, Christmas and other feasts in Fall
and Winter seasons in the Western hemisphere, the traditional destination
of holiday décor exports. Every exhibit functions as the local counterpart of
international events held in other countries, with those held in Hongkong
topping the list in terms of international participation. It is a must for
Philippine producers, suppliers, exporters, and foreign importers to be at
these exhibits to learn of emerging concepts, market trends, and
technology development in skills and production.

A woman entrepreneur who has made the industry her whole life in the last
two decades, Ms. Marlane Villa-Real, said that the holiday decor business
support organization, which is the Christmas Décor Producers and
Exporters Association of the Philippines, is the champion of this product
sector. The organization provides support and assistance to members in
updating the state of the art and meeting the challenge of competition
abroad.

The period 1987-2000, she said, were the golden years of the holiday décor
industry in the country. It was the time when annual exports steadily rose
and peaked at US$104-$105 million. Haply, from that peak, industry
performance steadily declined in succeeding years, due largely to the
aggressive sales performed by competing countries. By the end of 2006,
Philippine holiday décor stagnated, with exports coming up with only US$57
million that year, without any promise of change for the better in sight. In
three industry surveys, the latest being that of 2006, respondents surveyed
among local industry players invariably point to China as single biggest
challenge to the country’s prospects in the sector, followed far back on the
track by India, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan. For example, in 2005, U.S.
households accounted for US$3.3 billion of overall global holiday décor
imports, and China captured all of the $2.1 billion worth of that market. The
rest of the pie was shared among the other exporting countries, with the
Philippines capturing only about $55-$57 million of the slice.

The dismal picture has not taken the wind out of the country’s sail. It might
even prove to be a blessing in disguise. Due to the phenomenon of the
sudden rise and sharp fall, local producers and exporters have fallen back,
giving themselves space for serious thought, looking at the situation in
terms of strengths and weaknesses, and making ready to plot and accept a
more logical rank and position for the local industry in the global sphere,
considering its situation vis-à-vis the rest of the players in the field.

It has greatly helped the local producers and exporters of holiday décor
products to go into in-depth industry study and to learn from sectoral
situation reports undertaken through the initiative of Pearl2 of the Canadian
International Development Agency. The project is a five-year study from
2002 to 2007 in support of the development of small and medium
enterprises in the country. It uses the value chain analysis method
developed by a Dr. Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School. The
project’s focus on the holiday décor sector was undertaken in partnership
with the De La Salle University’s Center for Business and Economic
Research and Development.

According to the recent report of Pearl2, the value chain method looks hard
at the primary activities of a firm, namely: inbound logistics, operations,

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WINNER-TIPS - Trade Secret of Women’s Enterprises: Stay Small, Go Big http://www.winner-tips.org/article/articleview/1055/1/16/

outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. It then determines

which aspects of the operation can be enhanced, where the firm can reduce
costs and optimize resource use. Or, it may determine that a change is
called for and it prescribes ways by which to reconfigure the entire chain of
operation to achieve higher performance, increase product or service value,
lower costs of operation, among others.

As a consequence of the study, many things came out of the woodwork.

Based on the situation assessment, the report prescribes some very logical
measures to be taken. The focus of sales should be to recover lost accounts
in the global market and to diversify its markets, at the same time turning
an eye on regional and local markets. It suggests a serious shift to medium
and high-end markets, market segments which are not price-sensitive. The
move would mean a production realignment, where the aim is to create
greater product value in terms of design and craftsmanship. Diversifying
export markets would likewise mean decreasing the industry’s traditional
dependence on the U.S. and other markets and to intensify efforts at
getting business in Europe and other regions, including Australia, the
Middle East and Japan. The shift in sales strategies and market targets
would ultimately require an industry-wide upgrading on the technical and
human aspects of production. Though the report did not emphasize it, it
would likewise entail an overhaul of the values molding and informing the
most important aspect of production, the human factor.

“It’s in the attitude.”

To sustain the effort in skills and quality improvement, a continuous values

formation program for all players and stakeholders should be instituted
industry-wide. It should take in all firm owners and entrepreneurs, the
producers and exporters, all the craftsmen, staff, and workers at all levels,
all subcontractors, and all the suppliers of raw materials. This was the
strong view of Ms. Marian Nash, director of FOBAP (Foreign Buyers
Association of the Philippines), who is also an international project
consultant of various concerns.

She said that a key consideration in the development and the achievement
of a stronger position for the local holiday décor and other handicraft-based
industries is the availability, proximity and quality of raw materials. If only
raw materials are pre-treated and preprocessed at the level of the suppliers
and material quality is zealously kept according to desired specifications
and standards, in view of a particular target market niche, a lot of good will
result in the quality and value of Philippine export products. She then added
that all this will result from having the right kind of working attitude among
all industry entrepreneurs and workers. These stakeholders can effect the
change among themselves, as it will redound to their benefit, she said, but
a values formation program can help achieve the change where old
attitudes have hardened.

The line is not unfamiliar. We have heard it said and shouted in all sectors
of Philippine society. But the elephantine mass has simply not budged, it
may as well be stone-deaf—or dead. Hope, however, springs eternal in the
human heart and it does not stop from conjuring visions and dreaming
dreams. It climbs down the holiday décor tree and takes a hard look at the
ground on which the tree lives and confronts its roots.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, there are about 2,000
producers of holiday décor in the country, employing 250,000 workers.
These workers come from the poorest segment of the population. It is also
the segment where most of the more than eight million overseas Filipino
workers have come from.

The initial lure of the power of the dollar, the euro, or the pound, which led
the poor to seek job opportunities overseas and the local producers to think
big, could likewise be the key to opening an entirely new vista for a people
made weak by the sight of the sheer size and the numbers of the
competition they face. If only each one of the 250,000 workers in holiday
décor can be made to realize and appreciate that they, too, can bring in the
bacon from overseas without leaving home, much in the same way as their
family member who is across the seas, perhaps hope will be not be so
elusive and distant. If a family member has done it, the local producers can
do it too. The task will not be as daunting or onerous if hope is seen as a
reality, close to home and within reach.

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