Search results

This case presents the staffing problem of Manuel Garcia, president of Saint Catherine School (SCS). He needed to incentivize quality teachers to stay with the school but he faced three challenges. First, the school is located in a far flung city in Mindanao, Philippines. Second, the city is economically depressed and the parents are price-sensitive. Third, the school is dependent on tuition revenue and collections barely cover school expenditures. Manuel would have to find creative solutions and defend his decision to the teachers and the Board of Trustees.

The researchers relied on primary data to write the case although the Chairman opted that the school name and all the characters names be disguised. The researchers interviewed individually the Chairman of the Board, President, Vice Chancellor for Academics, University Registrar, Finance Director, and Human Resource Manager of the school. The researchers also interviewed faculty members as a group. The information on the exhibits were culled from reports presented by the administrative team.

The short case is a learning tool for students taking a degree in educational leadership and management. It can be used as part of an integrating module for graduate students. By this time, students would have had prior lessons in financial, trend, and ratio analysis. The case can also be used to reinforce lessons in the following courses at the undergraduate or graduate level: human resource management, data-driven decision making, financial resource management, educational policy, and even communication. Further, the case is suited for school administrators attending executive development programs. Running a school is more than managing the curriculum. There is a business side that has to be considered. This case helps teachers-turned-administrators consider the financial implications of human resource management decisions. In this instance, salaries and benefits.

Managing non-profit organizations, social enterprises, strategic management for small entities and tourism.

Useful for graduate students enrolled in courses with development aspects. Undergraduate students learning about non-profit organizations can also benefit.

This is a case of a small non-profit organization that is struggling to formalize its operating systems to generate sufficient surplus to plough funds back to the community that it envisioned to serve. The protagonist has to make a decision of whether to invest large sums in a health center for permanent visibility or to implement health services on a smaller scale given its current level of operations. Whether the protagonists’ operations are scaleable or not is also in question, as its main activity – slum tours – is not a widely accepted concept.

1. Students will understand the challenges of starting and growing non-profit organizations. 2. Students will recognize the need to make operations efficient and to establish control systems to manage enterprise resources. 3. Students will realize that decision-making requires the balancing of interests of multiple stakeholders. 4. Students will learn to analyze the options of financing social projects considering marketing, operations and financial data. 5. Students will gain better appreciation of the merits and demerits of slum tourism.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This case is the story of Gonzalo Co, the eldest of five siblings, who claimed to be the founder of Gonzalo Laboratories. According to his version of the story, he invited his siblings to work in the business that he established. As fate would have it, he was eased out of the business. His contributions to the company were wiped out when he acceded to change the form of ownership from single proprietorship into a corporation. In a situation of “he said”, “they said”, the well-publicized conflict leaves the public to wonder how the family will resolve their disagreements even if both parties insist that their respective stories are true.

The researchers relied on secondary data to write the narrative of Gonzalo Co. For the history of Green Cross, the authors used as reference the personally published book of Gonzalo. Then, the authors picked out relevant excerpts from the separate newspaper publications of Gonzalo and his siblings. The authors requested an audience with Mr Arsenio Alianan of the Philippine Kho Association, but he refused to be interviewed. The authors did not interview Gonzalo Co and any of his relatives.

Family business management class at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Family businesses (FB), mostly small-sized, dominate the tourism and hospitality industry (THI), especially in the rural areas. While many would have been used to the impact of demand seasonality, it is unknown how these businesses would have survived through the restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as compared to non-family business (NFB) counterparts. This study aims to determine if there were differences on how family and non-family enterprises in the THI coped with government restrictions.

By subjecting the survey data from tourism enterprises to non-parametric techniques, the authors establish empirical evidence on similarities and differences of coping strategies adopted by FBs and NFBs; their required support from government and their perceptions of a post-pandemic THI.

The analysis revealed that family-owned tourism and hospitality businesses in the Philippines tended to collaborate with other businesses to manage the impact of the pandemic restrictions. Since they hired more seasonal workers prior to the restrictions, they tended to avoid hiring workers during the restricted period. NFBs, on the other hand, that were generally larger in size and more professionally managed with more regular employees, tended to streamline operations for greater efficiency.

The study relied on survey results distributed and collected online. There is an innate bias against those firms that did not have access to the survey links.

The comparative study suggests that interventions to assist firms in the THI should consider the differences in firm ownership as “one size does not fit all.”

The study provides evidence about how environmental factors impact the operations of family firms. Thus, it provides valuable insights for both the academic community and industry practitioners.

This is the first study in the Philippines that was able to capture response of family and non-family firms in the THI during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Much of the resources for mitigating the impact of poverty found their way into new technologies or programs that aimed to provide energy access to the poor in the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP). Thus billions have been spent and will be spent on projects such as expensive line extensions or solar panels to the poor living in “last mile” communities. The purpose of this paper is to review the traditional responses to income and energy poverty, and describe a sustainable community model to address the poor at the BOP.

This paper looks at the approaches that have been tried in making a dent in the poverty incidence in households living in last mile, BOP areas in the Philippines and posits the critical question of why these approaches have failed despite successes in the more economically positioned strata of society. After identifying the critical variables that militate against the successful programs, the authors seek to proscribe a separate methodology for interventions in the BOP tiers of society.

The initial hypothesis garnered from examining the data suggests that BOP communities lack access to managerial and entrepreneurial skills required to sustain relatively advanced technology applications when seeking to improve livelihood opportunities.

The sources of primary data for this research work are interviews with community workers, energy project proponents and BOP community leaders. Future research requires pilot programs where results can be measured and successes can be replicated in other communities.

The insights derived from the research work will enable the design of better programs aimed at the BOP. Positive outcomes can be expected to come from improved effectiveness and efficiencies of current approaches and possible new opportunities for leveraging current efforts by governments and civil society with business.

The most significant, possible outcome of this research would be to enhance the sustainability of current interventions aimed at the BOP. Many corporate social responsibility activities are superficial, short-term initiatives, with time frames corresponding to quarterly statements meant for the public and external stakeholders. Unfortunately, the BOP environment is more structurally complex and requires systemic understanding.

Many of the existing interventions do not capture the needs of the BOP. This paper looks at this segment of the client system and tries to identify gaps in the program design to focus on this segment.

The failure to innovate has been recognized as one of the prime causes of business failure. In addition to this, the purpose of this paper is to explore whether it is the failure to act or inertia that can also explain the inability of family businesses to move forward.

This research documented the experiences of five family businesses in the Philippines that were unable to sustain their business operations. Only five families were identified since it was difficult to trace the business owners of businesses that failed, and once identified, not all were willing to discuss the reason for their business failure.

The cases showed that business decline actually results from the failure of family members to address the challenges brought about the change in the different life cycle dimensions. In hindsight, arresting a downward trend necessitates varied strategic approaches. While some family members may felt incapable of introducing innovation in their business, the failure to act, by itself, was a guarantee of business failure.

The research was limited to five family businesses in the Philippines. It is possible that there may be many other reasons for family business failure based on the experiences of other families. Unfortunately, many business families in the Philippines are tight-lipped about failure, even if there are lessons to be learned.

This paper brings attention to the need of family business owners to be more proactive in meeting the changing needs of their family business. Formula that worked before may not be appropriate at a different time.

Research has shown that there are many reasons for family business failure. This paper shows the importance of transcending the feeling of inertia so that family members can be more proactive in meeting the challenges that they are bound to face as their families, their products, their businesses, and the industries they are in, move from one stage of the life cycle to another.

There is a desire to improve economies as a way to solve social inequities while simultaneously addressing the issue of sustainability. Young and Tilley developed a model that describes a sustainability entrepreneur. The purpose of this paper is to apply the model in the Philippine setting to determine if there exists a special entrepreneur who looks beyond profit motivations, considers social inequities, and looks towards future generations.

The paper used the narrative approach in learning more about the motivations and sustainability practices of two Filipino entrepreneurs. The objective was not to compare the practices of both but to match it with the 12 elements of the sustainability entrepreneur model of Young and Tilley.

The concept of sustainability entrepreneurship is unknown to the two entrepreneurs. Yet, both engaged in sustainable business practices, meant to improve living conditions of marginalized groups. However, while they have actually helped communities to take better control of their livelihood, they have not yet consciously imbibed the element of futurity.

The paper attempts to further the model of Young and Tilley. However, since the measurement of sustainable entrepreneurship is not definitive, the researcher used pseudo-measures.

Informing entrepreneurs of the value of sustainability entrepreneurship, may lead to more for-profit enterprises to consider the effects of their business practices on the future of marginalized group and the environment.

There is no publication yet that has applied the Young and Tilley model. This paper shows that the model may have practical implications for entrepreneurs.