Challenges and Solutions for Australian Companies in the Philippines Fashion Industry

This presentation discusses the challenges and solutions for Australian companies in the Philippines fashion industry. It covers the cultural dimensions, communication practices, negotiation process, and infrastructure of the country. It also addresses the problems with the local community and provides solutions to overcome them. References are included for further reading.

PHILIPPINES FASHION
INDUSTRY

Challenges:
 In order to enter the
market of the
Philippines and operate
successfully, the
company has to
understand various
factors like difference
in cultural dimension,
communication
practices, negotiation
process and poor
infrastructure of the
country.

Challenges:
 Cultural dimension
 The Philippines is a highly masculine country which has identified the
people to be very competitive as well as assertive. There is small
room for cooperation or modesty in the society which poses to be a
great challenge for any Australian company.
 In power distance the country score high which means people easily
accept the hierarchical order and do not ask for justification which is
different from Australia.
 In Philippines the Australian company views a collective culture which
asks for long term commitments from the organizations. It is
complete different from exchange based work, recruitment and
promotion decisions.

Challenges:
 The country scores in low uncertainty avoidance, that accepts a
higher degree of uncertainty (Kleibert 2015). Therefore, the country is
more relativist and tolerant which is completely different from the
culture of Australia.
 In indulgence dimension, the Philippines scores low as their culture is
resistant with full of pessimism and cynicism. People of this country
control gratification of their desires. They have a lot of social norms
that dissuade them from having fun or enjoying life.

Challenges:
 Communication practices:
 The country’s values, ethics and etiquettes are completely different
from western countries. They have different business protocols which
supports interpersonal relationship.
 Negotiation process:
 The negotiation process in the Philippines is quite difficult as there is
no space for ‘no’ or losing temper because this may lead to lose face.
At every stage they sign agreements to avoid misinterpretation.

Challenges:
 Infrastructure and regulation:
 The Philippines has ranked lowest in the field of internet speed,
penetration and connectivity. They have low transportation
development and airport connectivity. The country is having huge
restrictions in product registration and product standards (White III,
Boddewyn and Galang 2015).

Addressing the challenges:
 The organization
will have patience
as the negotiation
process is slow
and ready to
favour in return.
The company
commits to keep a
long term
relationship that is
expected by the
cultural dimension
of the company.

Problems with local community:
 Unemployment and
corruption has a great
impact in the social life of
the communities that has
led them to depression and
finally committing suicide
(Bird 2018).
 The country has a huge
number of aboriginal
citizens who are devoid of
employment and health
facilities.

Solution to the problems:
 Identify the synergy among the capacities already present and
enhance them through its carbon neutral branding.
 Engaging the local people in researching designs as well as improving
their capacity (Gootiiz and Mattoo 2017).
 As the company aims to penetrate the market and operate there it
will create scope for the local people to get employment in the
company as well as in the outlets.

References:
 Bird, K., 2018. Reducing Youth Not in Employment, Education, or
Training through JobStart Philippines.
 Gootiiz, B. and Mattoo, A., 2017. Regionalism in services: a study of
ASEAN. The World Economy, 40(3), pp.574-597.
 Kleibert, J.M., 2015. Industry-academe linkages in the Philippines:
Embedding foreign investors, capturing institutions?. Geoforum, 59,
pp.109-118.
 White III, G.O., Boddewyn, J.J. and Galang, R.M.N., 2015. Legal system
contingencies as determinants of political tie intensity by wholly
owned foreign subsidiaries: Insights from the Philippines. Journal of
World Business, 50(2), pp.342-356.

Thank you