Usually people visit Bali for its lanscapes, festivals and petite dancers. There is another aspect to modern Bali though: business. Balinese religious symbolism and the use of offerings in all rituals have sreated a workforce exceptionally adepth in the production of art and handycraft.

Starting in the seventies, when backpackers and hippies started trading in Balinese art and craft to finance their stay in the island of the gods, businese in garment and textiles, jewelry, carving, furniture, antiques, and other items had been growing at a rate even outpacing that of the tourism industry.

As a result, the home-industry producing handycrafts and garment has become the most dynamic sector of the Balinese economy. Though it is difficult to know real figures as many exports are classified as souvenirs taken home by ‘tourists’, it is estimated that as musch as US$400 millions per annum, or a fifth of the regional annual income, are raked in by these home-industry businesses. Bali is also currently an important international production center for beach-style fashion and designer itms.

The most dynamic sectors of this export business belong to the undeclared economy. Bali has a small semi-resident community of several thousand expatriates who every year spent four to eight months on the island to make designs, order products, control quality, organize their marketing networks abroad and, of course, have good time. These expatriates usually reside in the Legian-Seminyak area, although smaller communities are also found in Sanur and Ubud.

They control many of the fashion and designers’ shops lining the main streets of Kuta, Legian, Sanur and Ubud, often indirectly through a local business partner or spouse. Their legal status is hazy: most of them stay in Bali with a tourist or ‘business’ visa and go to Singapore for a few days whenever their visa expire. The way they work is simple: most place direct or indirect orders to individuals or small groups of specialized craftsmen from the hinterland villages; all they do is provide the designs and control the quality. There are also a few large workshops working on order from foreign companies, but they lack the suppleness of the local expatriates, who have a better hunch for finding local talents and creating new designs.

The semi-legal way of doing business in the Balinese handicraft and garment industry is regularly criticized in the Indonesian press. Local competitor complain that the expatriates enjoy undue advantage by not paying taxes; there is also little legal protection for the local business partners and the workers: everything is relied on trust and cheating is not uncommon. There is no hiding the fact though that this semi-legal expatriate community, and the business it runs, palys a positive role in Balinese economy and society.

That is why it is tolerated by the Indonesian authorities. Numerous honterland villages, particularly in the Gianyar Regency, literally live from handicraft exports, usually through such expatriate intermediaries. One has to admit that they have a positiveimpact on the local job market and, even indirectly, on the stability of Balinese village life and culture: the youths who remain at home are more active in dance and music than ever.

Furthermore, owing to the global exposure and international markets created for them, Balinese handicraft products have increased in high quality and have gained international recognition. In fact, both Balinese and non-Balinese carvings are now found in sophiscated boutiques the world over, often having lost, for the sake of their winning new markets, their ethnic Balinese features. Bali is thus increasingly turning into a designers haven.

When doing business in Bali, one should take into account this specific environment. Investors are officially welcome in most sectors of the economy, but the bureaucratic hassles and the level of investment required-US$1 million-duscourage more than one. Unless one intends to pass large orders, or invest in the hotel industry (in which case it may be preferable to do business in partnership with-established local partners), the best way to do business in Bali is probably by using the informal network. There is one reservation though.

Whatever the high technical skills of the Balinese, some sort of supervision, either by an expatriate or by an Indonesianaccustomed to quality and schedule requirements, may be needed: the Balinese are an agrarian peopla, and their artistic skills rest to a large extent on this cultural background. This gives them little awareness of the demands of a modern economy. It is probably the reason why so many businesses are run or indirectly controlled - at least at the level of finished products and marketing - by non-Balinese, sometimes Chinese or Jakartanese, but more often than not by Western or Japanese expatriates.

This combination of Balinese artistic talent and outsiders’ ideas and marketing skills may well soon be provided with a better legal framework. Indonesia is in the midst of its ‘reformasi’, and among the ideas being discussed I that of autonomy, perticularly in the field of economy. It is obvious in this context that the existing connivance between the Balinese and their foreign guests could be put to a more productive use in given an adapted regulatory setting.

Bali is the ideal place where individual creative types can exercise their talents such as writers, publishers, software and fashion designers, education specialists and painters. These are the kind of people who should be welcomed to work, set up businesses and transfer skills. The alchemy between Bali and the outside world is already working, albeit informally. With encouragement, Bali can become not only a place where modern ideas an products could be developed.

To support the core businesses of the tourism industry, many support services have developed. They include cargo handling, freight forwarding, shippin, toursm publications, graphic design and printing.

One dynamic company in the creative field in Art Vision. Set up six years ago as a professional production service company, it does full production and associate production services for the filming industry from around the world. It has a wiide range of state-of-the-art equipment. Art Vision has been appointed as associate producer by many film companies that shot in Bali.

The company is run by international standard professional management and a creative team who have access to other professionals in the film industry both regionally and worldwide. To cater to market needs and to create new business opportunities in thw international market, Art Vision has been responsive in adopting new technology such as mutimedia, internet, and other advancements. In fact, its multimedia and graphic design division has seen tremendous growth recently. With an understanding of local culture, it also provides communication services for international companies who use Bali as base for international markets in the hotel and tourism-related industry.