By Gerry Plaza
You’ve got it all set. A sound business plan. Expertise. Familiarity with the market. State-of-the-art tools. But no one is biting. What went wrong?
Small businesses really played hard but they still stare at a huge deficit against the competition. We’ve talked to people who went through the same perilous journey but came back […]

Photos by Christian Regis
Owners and managers of small- and medium-scale enterprises took time off from their busy schedules last month to attend the last leg of the Manage Your Business Advantage (MBA) Roadshow held last November 13, 2007 at Discovery Suites in Ortigas Center.
The half-day free seminar was designed to educate CEOs and owners of […]

By Karla Que-Sanchez
Ever since Toyota pioneered the concept of just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, Japanese companies and large Western companies have followed suit with considerable success. The original practice of JIT involves a demand-pull system, which means customer orders prompt production so the company does not produce inventories for stock. Raw materials arrive at the factory floor […]

Business software company Business Objects is targeting small and medium enterprises, a market where it sees faster growth in the country.
Previously the company had a clientèle of mostly large enterprises, including Unilever, Globe Telecom, Philippine Airlines, Bank of the Philippine Islands, and Cebu Pacific.
Their current solution offers business intelligence for SMEs, in which data could […]

by Atty. Jessica Los Baños
Are you complying fully with the law? Here’s a checklist of the basic legal requirements that your business should be following.
Because MSMEs have great potential for growth and contribute significantly to economic development, they are subject to simple registration and compliance procedures, provided with ready bank financing, and afforded easy access […]

Getting the Demand Side of Purchasing Right
by Ma. Gloria Talavera
Most businesses can manage the supply side of purchasing. But not everyone knows how to manage the demand side.
It often amazes me how fast-food chains like Jollibee Foods Corporation and KFC ensure that stocks of patties, burgers, and chicken arrive on time so that you […]

My MBA students and I had a bit of discussion last night about research and development activities in the country, and why we do not have an “R&D culture” here. Is it because we’re a developing country?
Well, yes, the fact that we’re a developing country does count as a factor. We simply do not have […]

Many business owners believe that the best way to get things done is by becoming enfants terribles who can scare and intimidate their employees into doing what they have to do.
After all, isn’t that what Steve Jobs (Apple) and Ken Lay (Enron… before they crashed) and a host of other CEOs of successful firms do? […]

As a company grows and transactions increase in number and complexity, it makes good sense to prepare a budget�??a detailed plan showing how resources will be used during a given period of time, usually a year.
What are the benefits of budgeting?
First, it encourages the manager to think systematically and plan for the future. Running a […]

The secret is out: management books you typically find in the business section of bookstores are junk. Leadership books are no different. Most of them are still talking about whether leadership is an art or a science. Do you really need to spend Php800 to Php1,000 (US$16 to US$20) for the obvious answer? (Leaders are […]