In the Philippines case I think the lumber was most used for furniture builders and other countries who wanted the rare woods … but there are areas of the Philippines ideally suited for raising pulpwood … another lost opportunity, I’d say.

Indeed the web still is still an untapped resource, and not just in the Philippines.

re. the furniture idea. I am not sure about customs rules for Australia. Shipping to the US is eminently practical, there is zero duty on furniture.

I have a cousin in zebu who ships tons, literally, of furniture to Saudi and other Gulf countries. he’s actually more of an artist than a furniture maker, a lot of his stuff is a bit ‘artsy-fartsy’ for me, but it’s near museum quality … he doesn’t sell stuff for a few pesos each. All his business is done via private connections he made when he worked in Saudi, I don’t think he even knows there is an Internet.

The downside? I bought and shipped some furniture from Manila to the US. The store handled all the shipping and even at mall prices and adding on the shipping costs it was a bargain in the US. But I wanted more and the store couldn’t get any more … the guy who made it for them ran out of wood couldn’t locate any more … the Philippines is poorly suited for many mass production ideas because they lack raw materials.

Efforst such as the medical transcription service, though, will never run dry. Especially because of litigation and federal requirements in the US, from the time a parent takes anewborn in for his first ‘well baby’ check until the kid turns 18 there is a mountain of paperwork created … and someone has to type it, store it and recover it if needed … all work that doesn’t depend on raw materials. It seems we will never run out of legislators and their paperwork requirements in either of our countries LoL.

I totally agree…and the internet could be put to better use in existing business. Case in point…on my last visit to the Phils I went with my mother-in-law to collect some furniture. The guy at the furniture place (who also manufactured) was showing me his sales catalogue (some very ordinary photos in plastic sleeves in a folder) and informed me that he’d made some sales to the US, mainly to tourists from the US.
His furniture was of a very good standard and when I got back to Aus I discussed with a friend of mine (who had a furniture business) whether he’d be interested in importing from the Phils.
Anyway, I’ll get to the point…if this furniture manufacturer in the Phils had a business standard website that could process on-line orders then he could be making custom furniture and exporting all over the world (and employing more locals).
Business in the Phils MUST make better use of the internet. Let’s hope that the recent batch of College IT graduates have been equipped with the necessary skills to assist business. And the Govt should also contribute with grants or low interest loans to enable business to develop professional standard websites.

Phew! I’ll get off my IT soapbox now.