Experts: Small businesses not exempted from anti-trust rules

MANILA — Even as large and familyrun companies dominate the Philippine business landscape and small enterprises face high barriers of entry, anti-trust rules should not necessarily “protect” the latter, industry experts said recently.

“Competition law is not protecting small businesses. The goal is not to say, they don’t need to face up SM in the marketplace. But you go to the field, you know the rules, if you’re good some of you will grow,” Michael Schaper, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said during a panel discussion on the second day of the Manila Forum on Competition in Developing Countries in Makati City on Friday.

The panelists acknowledged the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in catering to markets unserved by large conglomerates to give consumers more product choices. However, they said the competition regulator shouldn’t give them special treatment.

“You don’t need a competition law to protect them. Our focus is access to mentorship, money, and market. If an entrepreneur will not have access to these three, it would be impossible to succeed,” Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria A. Concepcion III said.

“There are many ways to enter, and this is what entrepreneurship is all about. The creativity and innovation,” he added.

He said however that the anti-trust body should not put the clamps on the digital environment, which is MSME’s point of entry amid large firms’ dominance in the market.

“What’s important is we should not regulate a changing landscape. I look forward to the digitalization of market. Us, large corporations compete for market dominance. In the meantime, many of our MSMEs, they will be hit in this massive competition from the big boys. The barriers to entry are created by ourselves,” said Mr. Concepcion.

“What is our chance for the MSMEs? To allow MSMEs in the supply chain…let us allow the digital economy to run its course,” he added.