040207: Biz support center: peek into RP landscape

By Rommer Balaba

Reporter

JAPANESE firms intending to locate or to outsource operations here are provided a two-month window to experience first-hand local business operations through the Japanese Trade External Trade Organization’s (Jetro) Business Support Center in the Philippines (BSCP) facility.   These complimentary offices, housed inside Jetro’s Makati address, offer not only temporary corporate space but also advisory services to Japanese companies who eventually may want to expand their business in the country.   There are currently 269 Japanese firms registered in the Philippines, mostly located in export processing zones and engaged in manufacturing activities including electronics, semiconductors and automotive parts assembly.   “Japanese companies can stay up to four months while preparing feasibility studies [on the possibility of setting up operations locally],” Vanessa Chua, Japanese Business Investors Coordinator, said at the fringes of Jetro’s briefing on its cost comparison of major cities and regions in Asia.   Among the amenities provided by BSCP are individual offices complete with standard business equipment like facsimile, telephones, chairs and tables.   On the support services, Chua said Jetro provides a full-time investment advisor and a Japanese-speaking assistant aside from facilitating consultation with specialists on business laws, taxation and labor.   A total 36 firms have used the BSCP facilities since 2003, with three now currently availing themselves of it; and about 24 or two-thirds of those who utilized this window eventually set up shop in the country.   More than half of those who used BSCP are in the IT sector, particularly design and engineering, software development and services; almost a third are into manufacturing.   But aside from helping Japanese firms gain a foothold in the Philippines, Jetro also offers a similar support scheme for Filipino firms keen on investing in Japan especially in areas in Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kobe and Yokohama, Chua said.   “So far two firms have availed, including Ayala-owned Integrated Microelectronics, Inc.,” Chua said.

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/04022007/headlines02.html