Marketing
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The shoe industry of Marikina is a cottage industry that traces its roots to more than a century ago. The shoe industry in Marikina was started by Laureano Guevarra, popularly known as Kapitan Moy in the 1887. What then seems to be a very small livelihood business had become a municipal industry allowing the local families of Marikina earn their livelihood.
Over the years, the Marikina shoes has been only concentrated on the local market, centrally it is distributed in the Greater Manila Area, since by geography it is the nearest market. The Marikina Shoes though patronized by many Filipinos remain to earn only a very meager portion of the shoe market in the country and even in the National Capital Region where it concentrates its distribution. The lowering of tariff in the late 90’s had hurt the industry too much that it has drastically decline in terms of production as well as the number of shoe factory has decreased as well from a total of 513 in 1994 to only 248 in 2004 (AJ Scott, The Shoe Industry of Marikina City, Philippines: A Developing-Country Cluster in Crisis, 2005). Besides the tariff decrease, a number of reasons were also enumerated by AJ Scott in his report among others are the poor quality of shoes that is produced by the Marikina shoemakers.
TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE DEMISE OF THE LOCAL SHOE INDUSTRY
The demise of Philippine-made shoes is a result of decades of government neglect and intensified by just a few years of aggressive liberalization under the World Trade Organization.
Based on the study conducted by JP Andaquig of IBON which features a 40 year old shoemaker Mr. Johnny Gaudia from Marikina who have been witnessed of the prestige and fall of the Philippines Shoe Industry. It was disastrous; Gaudia's experience is neither new nor unique. Since the 1990s, footwear groups in Marikina and other areas have been warning against the influx of cheap goods from China,
The shoe industry of Marikina is a cottage industry that traces its roots to more than a century ago. The shoe industry in Marikina was started by Laureano Guevarra, popularly known as Kapitan Moy in the 1887. What then seems to be a very small livelihood business had become a municipal industry allowing the local families of Marikina earn their livelihood.
Over the years, the Marikina shoes has been only concentrated on the local market, centrally it is distributed in the Greater Manila Area, since by geography it is the nearest market. The Marikina Shoes though patronized by many Filipinos remain to earn only a very meager portion of the shoe market in the country and even in the National Capital Region where it concentrates its distribution. The lowering of tariff in the late 90’s had hurt the industry too much that it has drastically decline in terms of production as well as the number of shoe factory has decreased as well from a total of 513 in 1994 to only 248 in 2004 (AJ Scott, The Shoe Industry of Marikina City, Philippines: A Developing-Country Cluster in Crisis, 2005). Besides the tariff decrease, a number of reasons were also enumerated by AJ Scott in his report among others are the poor quality of shoes that is produced by the Marikina shoemakers.
TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE DEMISE OF THE LOCAL SHOE INDUSTRY
The demise of Philippine-made shoes is a result of decades of government neglect and intensified by just a few years of aggressive liberalization under the World Trade Organization.
Based on the study conducted by JP Andaquig of IBON which features a 40 year old shoemaker Mr. Johnny Gaudia from Marikina who have been witnessed of the prestige and fall of the Philippines Shoe Industry. It was disastrous; Gaudia's experience is neither new nor unique. Since the 1990s, footwear groups in Marikina and other areas have been warning against the influx of cheap goods from China,