State of the sector report on Philippine housewares, 2006

• Main Author: Halcon, Frederick A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: House furnishings industry and trade—Philippines; Other Business
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/7387
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines is endowed with natural resources. Being a developing country, it has resorted to the utilization of such in the production of goods and in the provision of services. Given the fact that the country is labor-abundant, ranking in the Top 20 in the world's most populated countries; it is organic to resort to the manufacture of labor-intensive goods. In the Philippine houseware industry, manufacturers would purchase resources and supplies that are relatively indigenous to them as raw materials and incorporate these in their production process. While procuring such, certain issues may rise in terms of logistics-both inbound and outbound. On the other hand, producing these housewares could also trigger quality control issues. Along the production process, value is created and added to the finished product. Marketing comes into play after production. A piece of houseware itself is a product, and a product is something that satisfies a need or a want. One should also consider the different factors that make a potential customer eventually become an actual customer. Perhaps, customers are also looking at the concept of after-sales service aside from quality. The different products lines of the Philippine houseware sector are very diverse. They range from baskets to shellcrafts and from stoneware to glassware. Most of these items serve aesthetic purposes. Firms belonging to this industry are situated in the National Capital Region, specifically Metro Manila, and its adjacent regions. Not to be missed are firms located in the Bicol region and in the Visayas. From last year's state of the sector report, it was noted that the Department of Trade and Industry was able to pinpoint an estimated employment of 40,000 people in the houseware industry. Despite the strong promise shown by statistics, it was also noted that the Philippine houseware industry is suffering a decline over the recent years. Moreover, it is also given that these firms are engaged in selling their products to buyers from other countries. The reason for such is that in past studies, most housewares are sold to foreign markets and seldom for the domestic market. Lastly, there is also a growing need for business support 1roups that will make the houseware industry more competitive in the international market. This goal is envisioned to be achieved through processing the data and finding in this state of the sector report and making them available for the firms’ perusal.