Bridging The Gap : SME and Export

The growth of small and medium-sized companies (and the effect on job creation) is an important challenge for the economy of the Philippines.

 

The coming Asean Economic Integration in 2015, the single market between 10 economies in South East Asia, with (nearly) free movement of goods, people and services, offers many opportunities for growth, development and sustainable job creation. But there are still a lot of obstacles for the SME to overcome in order 'to be part' of this -competitive- Asean market. Coping with this obstacles is of strategic importance, as discussed below,  for our country whose economy is largely export dependent.

 

Lack of international trade skills

 

One of the biggest obstacles for SME to expand their markets internationally is a lack of people with suitable international trade skills. International market research, export offers, delivery terms, how to write an export business plan, export sales strategies are just some examples of this issue as explained in Strategy 2000 of Oxford Research).

 

The gap between 'knowing and doing'

 

According to an article in the February 2012 'Harvard Business Review', the 'knowledge-doing' gap between colleges/universities and SME is another obstacle. Knowledge must be turned into practical skills and brought into action in an SME. Knowing how to write an export business plan or to do export market research is not enough; you have to do it in a real life situation when operating an export venture. To achieve this, SME can benefit from an export coach with international business experience.

 

Lack of international networks for trade

 

An international trade network of colleagues, experts and potential customers is as important as the trade knowledge required to be able to grow internationally - especially for SME interested in entering new markets. Much of the international trade training today is within a single country, and such national offering limits the possibility of creating an international network. That is why initiatives as the partnership of the Davao Chamber of Commerce (through the Small Business Development Center)  with the Dutch government agency CBI is so important for the (would-be) exporters of Mindanao. This program offers (and subsidies) trainings overseas for selected exporters with the objective to bring their products to the European market.

 

Lack of a qualification system 

 

The export profession is not yet recognized as such. A professional designation is needed to give an identity and recognition to colleagues, clients and employers. That is why the Davao Chamber of Commerce, through the Small Business Development Center, and TESDA XI joint forces and are working on training curricula and assessment tools (NC III and NC IV) for the export profession It is obvious that the SME will be consulted to find out what specific skills and competencies in the export field is lacking on the market.

 

The outcome

The need for international trade competence within SME has never been more pressing given the Asean Integration in 2015. A review in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri of an international trade training program indicated that an investment of 10,000 Euro actually gave a return of 500,000 Euro of increased exports! The message is clear that we have to put international trade training on the agenda to support our SME and to create sustainable jobs and growth.

 

 

Raf Vlummens, MFin, CRA

Entrepreneurial Coach

Pick The Entreprene​ur Lifestyle Alternativ​e For You.

You are an aspiring entrepreneur, eager to dump the corporate grind, and work to the beat of your own drummer, but you can’t come up with that killer idea to save the world. What are the alternatives that will give you the independence you crave, and challenge your business acumen?
Technically, I believe an entrepreneur is anyone who manages his own profit and loss, and doesn’t meet the government tax definition of an employee. Beyond the traditional new product or service model, you can always buy an existing business, purchase a franchise, join a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or simply go out on your own as a consultant.
Of course there are a million variations which can make the difference, like work at home versus an office, or online versus storefront, but these are secondary to your basic role. In deciding which of these startup models is right for you, the best place to begin is to ask yourself why you want to own a business rather than be an employee:

• You have the technology to change the world. If you want to nurture a product into full bloom, a traditional startup is your best bet. Of course, you get the challenge of filing patents, developing a product, and defining the revenue model. With an existing business, MLM, or franchise, the technology and process are already set.

• You really just want to be the boss. If your answer is that you want to own your own business because of the freedom it will bring you to manage an operation, try a franchise or join an MLM. The base organization will define what you have to do, when you do it, and how you do it, but the success is all in the execution. Don’t look for an investor, since they can be the toughest boss you ever had.

• You want to make lots of money. New startups build from scratch, and go for broke. Many end that way, but a chosen few do make lots of money. Franchises, on the average, make less money than other types of businesses, but they have higher success rates. Consulting businesses rarely scale, so you may do well, but are not likely to make lots of money. MLMs are like the lottery, minimal investment, with low odds of any success, but a few people hit it really big.

• You are doing it to satisfy someone else. Too many people are running a business because their father always expected them to take over for the family, the spouse has been nagging you to do it for years, or they want to prove something to a sibling or peer. If you have a choice here, at least pick a less risky franchise, or a minimal investment MLM.

• You're looking for something to keep you busy. If you have startup funds in hand, you are one of the lucky ones who can start or buy any business you want. If you lack hands-on experience, a franchise may be ideal for you, because you'll get help with everything you need to set up your business. On the other hand, if experience is your strong suit, why not highlight and share it through consulting?

Whichever business model you pick, you need to make a serious commitment to the effort, or you will likely fail. I have a friend who starts a new business every couple of years, sort of like a hobby. After a few months, she gets tired of the grind, or runs up against a couple of tough problems, so she rationalizes that the economy turned bad, or someone misled her, and she walks away. A different business model probably won’t solve this problem.

If you still aren’t sure where you fit, I recommend working for someone else for a few years to gain knowledge, contacts, capital, and learn more about yourself. Then take the plunge with one of the above business models. You will soon know whether you are having fun, and that’s the most important criteria for any aspiration. Enjoy. ( by Marty Zwilling)

Adopting Good Work Habits Beat Dropping Bad Ones

Most of the entrepreneurs I know realize they have some bad habits, like maybe procrastination or not listening well, so they focus on dropping these. New studies indicate that a more productive approach would be adopting new good habits and behaviors that clearly move your business forward, like good time management and implementing customer recommendations.
These two approaches may sound similar, but actually require different skill sets. For example, learning to stop smoking may leave you with a gap to fill, but finding activities that remove your urge to smoke really gets you where you want to be. I recommend the following six techniques for solidifying good habits from “The Compound Effect,” by successful entrepreneur and writer Darren Hardy:

1. Set yourself up to succeed. Any new habit has to work inside your life and lifestyle. If you want personal healthy think time at a gym, don’t find one that is thirty miles away, because you won’t go. For better time management, tell everyone that you will be closing the door to your office during specific times of the day, and ask for their support.
2. Think addition, not subtraction. Instead of focusing on what you have to “sacrifice,” think of what you can “add in” to improve your business effectiveness. For example, most founders find that adding good customer discussions has a more satisfying payoff than just eliminating expensive marketing consultants.
3. Go for a public display of accountability. Put your commitments of a new good habit, like rewarding good performance, on public display by announcing a recognition event to be held each week in the office. Now you will be motivated to follow through, and the whole team will give you the positive feedback you need to keep it going.
4. Find a success partner. There are few things as powerful as two people locked arm in arm marching toward the same goal. If your bad habit is staying late at the office, link with one or more of your other key executives to retire to the gym at 5pm sharp three times a week. You will all get out of the office, feel better, and make more decisions.
5. Use both competition and camaraderie. There is nothing like a friendly contest to whet your competitive spirit and immerse yourself in a new habit with a bang. It’s easy in a new business to inject a fun rivalry and a competitive spirit into improving your marketing programs, or improving production cycles.
6. Celebrate each small step of success along the way. All work and no play is a recipe for backsliding. You’ve got to find little rewards to give yourself every week or every day, even something small to acknowledge that you’ve held yourself to a new behavior. Measure results and promise yourself a real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Change is hard. That’s why so many people don’t either give up their bad habits, or adopt new good ones. Successful entrepreneurs are the extraordinary ones that make the changes anyway. They just do it, and keep doing it, and the magic of compounding rewards them handsomely.
Another challenge is that your brain is not designed to make you happy. It is programmed to seek out the negative and optimize survival, and is always watching for signs of “lack and attack.” That’s why every entrepreneur spends so much time worrying about failures, lack of customers, and competition. We have to teach our minds to look beyond these, through discipline and being proactive about what we allow in.

But learning and discipline without execution is worthless. In the big picture, the habits you develop and nurture shape your destiny. Little everyday habits will take you either to the life you desire or to disaster by default. Spend more time instilling good ones, and the bad ones will disappear for lack of attention, making you a more savvy and successful entrepreneur.

(by Marty Zwilling - more of Marty: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com)

One of This Days, You May Not Be An Entrepreneur.

If I had a Peso for every time someone has said to me, “One of these days, I’m going to start my own company,” I’d be rich. If this day ever comes for all these people, we will be overrun by startups. Yet I don’t lose any sleep over either of these possibilities.
Most people procrastinate from time to time, but I suspect that the challenge here is somewhat deeper than that. So I did my own informal survey of business books, to gather the key reasons why most people never start the journey. If you recognize yourself in any of these categories, you may be more of a “wanna be” than a real entrepreneur:

1. You are a dreamer, not a do-er. Most people in this category actually prefer to think of themselves as “idea people,” rather than implementers. In my view, the dreaming part and the idea are the easy parts, and the hard part is building a workable plan and making it successful. A strong vision is required, but that’s different from the dream.
2. Unable to learn the new skills. This starts happening to people immediately after school, who think that academia is where skills are acquired. Actually, schools are only for learning how to learn. Specific expertise is self-learned from experience, not books. The ability to learn doesn’t decline with age, unless confidence and interest declines.
3. Unhealthy fear of failure. A wise man I once knew said “He who is never afraid, he’s a fool.” Successful people overcome their rational fears, and move on to get the job done. Others are debilitated by their fear, and never start. Expecting some failure, and learning to deal with it, is one of the most effective ways to learn. Investors know that all too well.
4. Hidden fear of success. Believe it or not, many people fear success, and stop short if they see it approaching. There is, in fact, plenty of evidence that it takes a strong person to manage their life after success – note the many failures after success in winning the lottery, or after topping the charts in their chosen profession.
5. You are a perfectionist, not a pragmatist. A new product or service will never be perfect in a rapidly changing world, so why start? At the other extreme, I know inventors that have been working on the same idea for thirty years, and have nothing to show for it. A proven path to success in business is to get something out, and iteratively improve it.
6. Not focused, or easily distracted. Successful entrepreneurs have a strong vision, and don’t let anyone or anything lead them astray. In business, this means you have to keep your priorities straight, and separate the important from the urgent. Learn to commit, focus, organize your work, and delegate when appropriate.
7. Always finding excuses. The first principle of entrepreneurship is that “the buck stops here” – you have to accept ultimate responsibility for whatever happens, good or bad, Excuses are artificial barriers for not starting something, or ways of convincing yourself that someone or something else is responsible for your failures. Neither is productive.
8. You are not a self-starter. If you need someone else to tell you when to develop your business plan and organize your time, then “one of these days” will probably never come for you. With the entrepreneurial lifestyle, it’s up to you to set the standards, be the model, and actively do the follow-through.

According to Psychology Today, some twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. Among wishful entrepreneurs, I think the percentage is nearer to ninety. If that is your current state, it need not be a life sentence by default. Some of you will change your outlook and your behavior, one of these days. When will you get around to it?

Marty Zwilling (more of Marty: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com)

 

Team Member Competency is Critical!

Most people think that the Peter Principle (employee rises to his level of incompetence) only applies to large organizations. Let me assure you that it is also alive and well within startups. I see startup founders and managers who are stalled transplants from large organizations, as well as highly-capable technologists trying to start and run a business for the first time.
Forty years ago, in a satiric book named “The Peter Principle”, Dr. Laurence J. Peter first defined this phenomenon. The principle asserts that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent, and there they remain, unless they start or join a startup to get the next level.
In all environments, the move to incompetence often occurs when competent technical people try to step into management or executive positions, for which they have no aptitude, interest, or training. How many technologists have tried to run startups and failed?
So what are the keys to avoiding this problem for yourself, and recognizing the signs and requirements in your own team, before the “level of incompetence” paralyzes your startup:

1. Focus on communication skills. The ability to communicate effectively and often to your team and to the outside world becomes more and more critical as you move up the role ladder. Practice and training are critical. If communication to others is not your forte, then stick to a highly focused non-management role.
2. Look for ability to direct, as well as act. Many people have trouble directing the task and not doing it themselves. Both are hard work, and both are valuable. Executives get paid for what they know, not for what they can do with their hands—for managing the job and not actually doing it.
3. Comfortable with a spectrum of responsibilities. As a manager, there will be many new responsibilities, most of which are a little fuzzy. A tech promoted to manager must change his mindset from one of focusing on a problem and solving it, to multi-tasking a broad range of responsibilities, and keeping them all moving.
4. Consistent demonstration of high-level competencies. You need ‘portable’ competencies—those that you can take with you to any level of the corporate ladder, and which you can tap into in a managerial capacity. For example: be solutions-oriented, able to balance both sides of an issue, and be a quick study.
5. Provide mentoring and formal management training. If you are seriously looking at shifting someone to a management role, make it top priority to get them formal training, not only on business management itself, but especially on people management and interaction skills. Talent and good intentions are not sufficient.
6. Evaluate passion and current position. A management position is not for everyone, and a specialist career may be much more exciting. Great technical gurus get paid very well, and have visible top positions like Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for prestige and respect. You can still be the founder, and bring in a CEO to run the business.

Another important point is to recognize and deal immediately with occurrences of the Peter Principle. If you are the CEO, and you tolerate ineffective people in important positions, they will suck the life out of your startup. The good people will fade away, and only the bad will remain. You will be tagged as the one with the Peter Principle.
It’s something that we all have to deal with, in our own career, and with other team members. In a small startup, everyone has to carry a maximum load for survival, and everyone sees the non-performers. If you are the last to see the problem, or the last to react, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror.


Marty Zwilling
more of Marty? blog.startupprofessionals.com

Move your marketing strategy from 'Hunting' to 'Gardening'

Have you noticed that more companies beg you to participate in their business today? It started with an email survey on your last stay at their hotel, but now includes requests for online product reviews, to social media input on the design of future products. They do it because engaged customers become loyal advocates and buyers. Welcome to the “Participation Age” of marketing.
Some say it’s happening today because it’s new, and technology makes it possible. Others say it stems from Intrinsic Motivation Theory, which asserts that people have always been motivated by a desire to join, share, take part, connect, and engage, and find that experience rewarding. In any case, your business needs it today to rise above the crowd and edge out competitors.
If you want all the specifics, you must follow the new wave of marketing experts, like Daina Middleton, and her recent book “Marketing in the Participation Age.” I’m most intrigued by one aspect that I believe relates to every business - the move from a hunter-based metaphor to a gardening metaphor – nurturing what we have planted, based on the following five rules:

1. Embrace test-and-learn values. That means constantly trying new marketing elements, understanding quickly what works, and immediately scaling, then moving on to the next alternative. Nurturing marketers reserve a minimum of 10 percent of their marketing budgets for testing and learning. It’s a dynamic customer environment out there.
2. Innovate; don’t perfect. The nurture approach leverages from the best of the moment, quickly adding value before someone else does it first. The concept of continual innovation is crucial, because the best may not last long. Pick something that is good enough and embrace the flaw as an opportunity to learn. Adapt quickly and move on.
3. Act quickly and motivate others, including participants, to act on your behalf. Motivate people, including your customers, to do something to improve your marketing today. Inspire your organization to act quickly and create an environment that rewards moving quickly. Estimate and act; because if you don’t, your competitors will.
4. Mix and blend; don’t invent. Partner with others to create unique solutions that might benefit your brand, product, or solution. Choose an agency partner who is pushing the envelope and remember to consider technology, media, and creative opportunities. Look for elegant blends of all three, not an elegant single media solution.
5. Embrace risks and champion failures. Prepare to learn from mistakes and accept that failures are inevitable in finding success. Partner with agencies that are willing to put skin in the game and get paid only if they deliver results. It often takes several failures to find opportunities that yield the best results.

In the current world of escalating change and information overload, marketing is not a luxury, and participative marketing can be the key to success, even for very technical solutions. We often see a mediocre product with effective marketing outperform a good product with little or poor marketing. Big marketing budgets alone and single blockbuster campaigns don’t assure results.
The message is simple. Ask your customers and partners for ideas, try them all, measure results, and scale up the ones that work. The participants, not the marketers, are in control, and they are demanding a relationship, not just a marketing message. If they don’t find value in the relationship, they move on. The choices and opportunities are theirs.
The situation is not unlike the attraction of current major social media sites, like Facebook, successful multiplayer game sites, like Activision, and today’s real world sports and politics. Gen-Y members were born participants, and they are a major force in every business domain. People thrive on continually learning, feeling empowered, and providing input to the world they live in.
So if you are a startup, or even a mature business, you need to nurture these intrinsic desires and develop more meaningful customer relationships that yield greater revenues. Marketing is no longer a one-way conversation. Does your marketing include listening as well as talking?
Marty Zwilling
more of Marty on http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Starting a Business with Your Spouse

When she was 24 years old, writes Allie Siarto in her article, she started a business with my fiancé (now husband) and one of our best friends. Three years later, our business and marriage are stronger than ever, but not without a few bumps along the way.

If you’re considering starting a business with your spouse or significant other, or if you already have a business and you’re considering bringing your significant other into the mix, run through this checklist to avoid major headaches down the road:

1. Create an emergency fund.

   Money is the number one reason for divorce, and cash flow tends to be the number one challenge for new businesses. When we first started out, we waited months to get our business cash flow in order and get paid. But we didn’t stress, because we had saved a personal emergency fund ahead of time.

2. Get office space.

   You shouldn’t run out and get an office right away, but start budgeting for an office or co-working membership as soon as possible. We spent the first year of our business working from home, but we also joined a co-working group and got together with other entrepreneurs twice a week at a local coffee shop just to get out of the house and find camaraderie. Co-working spaces, as the co-working center of the Small Business Development Center of the Davao Chamber of Commerce offer flexible part-time solutions that will give you a more budget-friendly opportunity to get out, meet new people and maintain sanity.

3. Know your personality types.

   I tend to draw my energy from being around other people, while my husband draws energy from focused time by himself. I am more focused and energetic in the morning, while he works best late at night. I am very focused on the big picture, while he does better with the details. By understanding our individual strengths, we are better able to find areas where we complement each other. Consider taking a personality assessment to figure out your individual strengths and how you can best work together.

4. Define management roles.

   Along with knowing your personality type, you should have clearly defined roles within the company. Write job descriptions for yourselves and set clear expectations about who will take on which tasks for the business.

5. Engage in separate hobbies.

   When you are starting out, you will be spending a lot of long hours working together to get your business off the ground. It sounds strange, but it’s important to schedule activities apart. When we started our business, I got involved in the local photography community, while my husband got more involved with the organizations in the local startup scene. This added some balance to our lives and gave us something new to talk about outside of work.

6. Discuss risk tolerance.

   Because our business is our main source of income, my husband and I tend to be less risk-averse than we might be if we worked separately. We decided early on we wanted to take a “slow and steady” growth path with no debt, loans or investments, but we reevaluate our views on tolerance for risk, regularly.

7. Balance praise and constructive criticism.

   Make a point to thank each other for a job well done, and be kind about how you approach constructive criticism. In a close relationship, we often forget these basic rules of business.

8. Have a sense of humor.

   Don’t take yourself too seriously. Take time to find humor and happiness in the little things each day. For example, I’ve been known to break into song and dance during the work day.

Starting a business with your spouse can be one of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do. There will be tears and laughter. There will be celebrations and frustrations. But in the end, there’s nothing like sharing the payoffs of working together toward a common goal with your life partner.

Allie Siarto is the co-founder of Loudpixel, a social analytics company focused on social media monitoring, insights, measurement and infographics. She also runs a project called Entretrip, a co-traveling experience for location independent entrepreneurs, and a digital marketing innovation podcast called The Apt Marketer.

Article published on YFSMagazine.com