US expert urges local exporters to change strategy

Filipino exporters should move away from a price competitive strategy and instead shift to a value-added strategy, according to Mark Van Fleet, managing director for international business development of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Van Fleet, said "if you just compete based on price, it will not be a long-term competitive strategy." He pointed out that exporters from India, Thailand and China could easily undercut Filipino exporters.

Accordingly, Van Fleet advised Filipino exporters to move toward more value-added albeit higher priced exports.

Van Fleet stressed that the US market continues to have a vast potential for exporters who can offer value-added products. He said US consumer, have tremendous buying power and are always on the lookout for new products, even though the US economy is in a slump at the moment.

He cited as an example that instead of competing with cheaper priced chicken, exporters should come up with a value-added product such as pre-seasoned, ready-to-cook chicken since most Americans are too tired to cook after working.

Towards this end, the US Chamber of Commerce, which is composed of 3,000 chambers nationwide in the US, is trying to team up with local government agencies such as the Philippine Small and Medium Business Development Foundation (Philsmed) to help small and medium exporters.

Basically, Philsmed and the US Chamber of Commerce are trying to set up a program to help Filipino SMEs and exporters to sell their products to the US as well as source directly some of their raw materials, machinery and equipment from US companies.