Cavs played ugly ball

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

It isn’t often that a team finds itself prevailing even after shooting much, much worse on less shots than — and being significantly outrebounded by — its opponent. Yet, that’s exactly what the Cavaliers got yesterday despite ending up with seven less caroms and a 35% clip off 80 field goal attempts. The reason: They were fouled five more times and given 13 more free throws, posting respective aggregates of 25 and 38 — yes, 38 — en route to a single-basket victory.

Considering how much ugly ball prevailed throughout the match, it’s fitting that the Cavaliers’ last three points came from the charity stripe. To argue that they bled for points would be an understatement; in the fourth quarter alone, they had three field-goal droughts that lasted 4:14, 3:42, and the final 1:21 of the game clock. Not quite the output expected from a supposed offensive juggernaut starring Most Valuable Player candidate LeBron James.

Yet, if there’s anything the relief etched in the top vote getter for the 2018 All-Star Game underscored, it’s that the Cavaliers will take wins any which way they can. James has been nothing if not practical of late, viewing the season an outing at a time in acknowledgment as much of the grind all teams face as of their unique travails. They’re still searching for identity this late in their 2017-2018 campaign, and they would be foolhardy to look ahead to the playoffs when they’re either going backward or running in place.

Parenthetically, even James himself deserves some blame for the Cavaliers’ predicament. He did hit the ground running, putting up numbers not seen from him since the turn of the decade. In recent memory, however, he seems to have, well, slowed down, perhaps worn down by the intrigues and burdened by the load he appears to have little help carrying. To be sure, he’s used to the adversity; whether or not it will again serve as fuel as in years past remains to be seen. For now, he’ll take the triumph in the hope that simple pleasures will ultimately lead to success.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

Mayor tells business sector: Davao City open to 3rd party auditor

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

MAYOR SARA Duterte-Carpio has urged Davao City’s business sector to provide a third-party auditor to look into the local government’s finances in line with transparency initiatives. Speaking before business leaders during the installation of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.’s new set of officers last Friday, Jan. 26, Ms. Carpio said the city’s books are open for review by the private sector to help ensure that resources are being used judiciously. The mayor noted that as of Jan. 23, the City Treasurer’s Office has collected P1.2 billion from business renewal fees, a 36% increase from last year. “I thank the business community for diligently paying your local taxes. We assure you that your city government will allocate these funds to more meaningful projects and programs for the development of the city,” Ms. Carpio said. She also reported that the city ended 2017 with more than 40,000 registered businesses, with a total investment value of P270 billion. — Maya M. Padillo

Toward a sustainable future

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

The Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) kicked off its 50^th anniversary celebration with a Golden Jubilee gala night last Jan. 15 at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

It was an evening of music and memories for members of the country’s premier organization of finance professionals. Past presidents of FINEX were honored, some of them posthumously as they had gone to the great beyond.

FINEX’s surviving founder Jimmy Ladao delivered a testimonial message, along with former Prime Minister Cesar Virata and incumbent Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Tess Herbosa.

Good governance was the recurring theme of the two keynote speakers.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim praised FINEX’s governance advocacy, while Metro Pacific Group CEO Manny Pangilinan correlated corporate governance to best practices in basketball, recounting his successful bid for the co-hosting of the 2023 FIBA World Cup by the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

“Pillars of Good Governance,” a textbook written by former Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma, was launched by the 2017 FINEX Board headed by outgoing president Dick Baladad. Past president Mel Salazar has recommended the book’s dissemination to business professors and students nationwide to propagate a deeper appreciation of financial executives’ role in enterprise management.

Last Jan. 18, the 2018 FINEX Board led by President Marivic Espano had their induction rites at the Fairmont Makati Hotel with the theme, “Transform for a Sustainable Future. Today.”

Rising taipan Dennis Uy was the guest speaker during the luncheon event. He traced his journey as a Davao-based entrepreneur who started with Phoenix Petroleum and built a diversified conglomerate that now includes 2GO Group, Chelsea Logistics, Enderun College, and Lapu-Lapu Leisure Resort Mactan, as well as the local franchises of Japan’s Family Mart and South Korea’s Kia Motors.

Plans are afoot to establish the FINEX Academy as a CFO training center consolidating all professional development seminars and education-oriented activities under its ambit. This learning institute is one of the five signature projects proposed by the Vision 2018 Committee chaired by past president Cora dela Paz.

To ensure the sustainability of the flagship project, a capital fund campaign will be spearheaded by the Order of the Golden Phoenix, a group of benefactors formed during the 40th anniversary of FINEX in 2008.

If it comes to fruition, the FINEX Academy would be a fitting legacy of this year’s board to the future generations of finance executives.

J. Albert Gamboa is Chief Financial Officer of the Asian Center for Legal Excellence and serves as Co-Chairman of the FINEX Media Affairs Committee.

Motorbike crash casualty Gerard Butler on a year of pain

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

LOS ANGELES — He has cultivated an image as a tough guy over two decades of starring in action thrillers but no role could have prepared Gerard Butler for his excruciating motorbike crash.

The 48-year-old Scot — best known as hard-as-nails Spartan leader Leonidas in 2006 action fantasy 300 — was riding in Los Angeles in October when his motorbike and a car collided, sending him somersaulting into the air.

“I fractured five bones in my right foot and had a microfracture in each foot and a pinched nerve and a bruised bone, and injured my ankle and both knees,” he tells AFP.

The damage couldn’t have come at a worse time, as he was in the middle of publicizing climate thriller Geostorm while also shooting scenes for heist movie Den of Thieves and military actioner Hunter Killer.

“I was in seven countries over five weeks and I could barely walk, and it was maybe the toughest period of my life — going on talk shows, pretending you’re good,” he recalls with a grimace.

In terms of aches and scrapes, last year was a doozy, the actor told AFP in a recent interview in Beverly Hills to promote his role as an elite cop in Den of Thieves.

“I put on 25 pounds (11 kilograms) — at one point I was 30 pounds heavier — just to play that character and in the final day of shooting I hurt my knee during an action scene,” he said.

WASHBOARD ABS
“Unfortunately I’d already committed to starring in another movie eight days later — Keepers, in Scotland — which, when I arrived, I realized was all on the side of a mountain — six weeks walking up and down a mountain.

“By the time I’d finished that both knees were screwed. And then I had a motorbike accident where I landed on my knees, so it’s been an interesting year of challenges.”

Born in Paisley, on the outskirts of Glasgow, Butler broke Hollywood with his legendary rippling washboard abs — some critics unkindly and inaccurately suggested they were digitally enhanced — as marauding King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s 300.

His more than two dozen roles since have included a gangster in Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla (2009), a vigilante killer in Law Abiding Citizen (2009) and an alcoholic drug-abusing biker in Machine Gun Preacher (2011).

He has also shown his soft side in romantic comedies like 2007’s P.S. I Love You, The Ugly Truth in 2009 and opposite Jennifer Anniston in The Bounty Hunter (2010).

He can be still periodically be found saving the president or the planet from befalling calamity of varying degrees of ludicrousness in big, brainless actioners like Olympus Has Fallen and its sequels.

His latest project, Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves, opened two weeks ago to lukewarm reviews but has matched its production budget with a respectable $30-million box office.

His 48^th movie, it follows the intersecting lives of the major crimes unit of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department — known as the “Regulators” — and the “Outlaws,” an elite band of robbers.

ALPHA MALE
With an ensemble cast that includes hip hop star Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, rapper Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson, Jr., and a particularly buff looking Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Lords of Dogtown), it may be the first movie in which Butler has had serious competition for the position of Alpha Male.

“I haven’t seen that amount of testosterone and kind of alpha, predator, apex energy since 300 — and even then not as much among the lead characters,” he joked.

He admitted there was a “healthy sizing each other up” on set but added that it was nice to work with “a bunch of good dudes with good hearts.”

No movie is above scrutiny from the Hollywood press when it comes to gender and racial diversity, and not even a self-consciously macho heist movie gets a pass.

Butler and his co-stars were asked at a recent press conference why there weren’t more women in lead roles in Den of Thieves and batted the question politely into the long grass.

AFP asked Butler afterwards if he thought the pressure for every movie to tick diversity boxes was unrealistic and he paused as he measured the tone of his response.

“I think sometimes that pressure is fair. It’s a movement I can get behind and I understand it,” he ventured.

“But then when people try and apply it to everything, including a movie about a bunch of male undercover cops and a gang of ex-military and say, ‘Shouldn’t you have some women in there?’ — then no.

“You pay lip service to the question and you smile and move on.” — AFP

What’s the value of hiring and managing gray workers?

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

Because of the difficulties in hiring and managing millennials, we’re now looking into the possibility of hiring retired people to do office jobs or back-office tasks for some clerical work, and to some extent, perform managerial assignments. Can you please help us explore the pros and cons of this plan? — Second Chance.

Many years back, Fortune magazine did a cover story on Warren Buffett (b. 1930) of Omaha, Nebraska. The magazine tells the amazing tale of one of America’s most successful billionaires. He has been an enormous success after investing in all kinds of companies in the process of building his conglomerate — Berkshire Hathaway. He has been conferred the nickname “Oracle of Omaha.”

He looks for strong companies that are well-positioned in the market. Then he seeks to take over these companies. Then leaves the management of these acquired companies to incumbent officials, many of whom are old, but not replaced, including Rose Blumkin (1893-1993), who at age 94 was reportedly working seven days a week in the carpet department of Furniture Mart.

Buffett simply does not regard age as having any bearing on how able a manager is. He has worked several decades with an unusually large number of older management executives and still treasures their abilities. Buffett says: “Good managers are so scarce I can’t afford the luxury of letting them go just because they added a year to their age.”

The call center industry is known to have experimented with hiring and managing older workers as a partial solution to their high turnover. That could be your model for evaluating whether retired people are suitable to your own industry and make adjustments from there. But let me come out with my own list of advantages in hiring people in their late 50s and beyond. Here are some of them:

One, gray workers have depth from their work experience. They don’t commit a lot of mistakes, unlike young workers who can be easily distracted by many things, including the infighting caused in part by office romance, office politics, and so on. Mature workers don’t need a lot of training.

Two, gray workers prefer stability and focused on their current tasks. They want to prove themselves once again and remain loyal to their employer. After all, how can you betray someone who gives you another chance at employment? They are not expected to job-hop since their interest is to maintain goodwill with everyone and perpetuate employment as long their mental and physical ability allows them to do their jobs.

Three, gray workers have excellent and tested management skills. They give honest opinions on work situations, but just the same, they tend to follow established policies, even if they don’t agree with them. Many of them were trained in actual face-to-face communication with people rather than the current system that offers impersonal interaction (like e-mail, SMS, etc.) that offers convenience but not any insight into hearts and minds.

Four, gray workers have an excellent network of friends in high places. This is possible if these mature workers have worked for some time in many industries. Connections alone will help them understand where business opportunities can come from. With their friends from many organizations, they know how to maximize their relationships for the benefit of their current employer.

Last, gray workers may have no ambitions for further promotion. They understand their situation and will prefer to remain in the background to help the organization and young people achieve their goals. Many of them would like to retain employment after retirement to remain intellectually nimble.

Those five advantages are on top of my mind. I’m sure there are a lot of more depending on the personal circumstances of the gray workers and the situation of their current employers. Given these advantages, then what are the disadvantages?

One major disadvantage of hiring gray workers pertains to their mental and physical health that could possibly derail the smooth operations of a business. This means that an employer wishing to hire and maintain a pool of mature workers would have to assign them to a support team, and not to critical functions. You have to allow for older people to occasionally absent themselves due to ailments.

That’s why you have to come up with a special employment contract that may include only the basic compensation minus statutory benefits. Employers are not expected to provide extra health and medical services that would mean additional cost. And for this reason, it is wise to require gray workers to undergo the usual pre-employment medical examination to protect the interest of everyone.

elbonomics@gmail.com

A matter of habit

February 2, 2018 | 12:01 am

Life tends to be more stressful when there are too many decisions and choices to be made, sometimes immediately. Weighing options and analyzing costs and benefits with imperfect information characterize what behavioral economists call the “tyranny of choice.” Reducing choices leads to establishing habits.

A business executive is often defined by routine. His authority is defined. He has a list of tasks assigned to him, even how his performance of such tasks will be evaluated and rewarded with variable pay depending on how he meets or exceeds his assigned goals.

The executive signs a contract on his guaranteed annual cash compensation. His work hours, including time for motivational sessions out of town, product launches, and vacations are set. He is given an assigned work space. The benefits he is entitled to, like health insurance, type of car, travel, parking space, key to the private elevator, and access to the executive dining room, are part of his expectations.

Okay, disruptions from technology and competition can disturb this comfortable routine. The qualifications that may have gotten this programmed robot his job may no longer be applicable to his ability of keeping it. His connections in landing clients become frayed over time. Too often does he hear: what got you here won’t get you there.

Anyway loyalty awards for length of service in big companies have been dwindling too. (And now, let’s call on the 30-year awardees.)

The new marketing approaches call for different skills that do away with personal connections, lunch rituals, and remembering birthdays. A new leader is hired from another industry with only disdain for the social structure and past relationships.

When winds of change blow, nothing stays nailed down. The corner office, birthday bonus, trips overseas on business class, security detail against kidnapping, and a regular car replacement every four years are “re-evaluated.” (Can we afford all these perks?) Costs are considered investments that should generate returns — you’ve heard of overhead, what about underfoot?

There is a new set of people being called to meetings involving less than six participants, including the minute taker who concentrates only on “next steps.”

The overturning of routine and predictability is a new stress point in the disruptive economy. Does a suddenly retired executive then embark on his own business and try to be his own boss?

One of the shocks of turning from corporate executive to entrepreneur (or venture capitalist) is not the prospect of losing one’s life’s savings after early retirement, although this is a distinct possibility, but the simple disruption of routine. The comfort of waking up at a certain time, driving off to office, and having something predictable to engage in are no longer available. Even the cash flow becomes volatile.

It is no wonder that executives who retire and lose their cherished routine end up with depressions. Habit can be a form of addiction too. The solution for getting out of the habit may lie in moving out of a comfort zone. Can you embrace a different kind of career, like raising funds from donors (which cannot include personal expenses), teaching, and joining a troll patrol? (A quick geography lesson is necessary.) The nostalgia for routine does not always have to do with money. This becomes secondary not because of its declining importance but its growing unavailability.

One option is to join a smaller company. The habits are similar even if the perquisites are considerably diminished. There are fewer trips and when they are available, the lines to get to the plane are longer with leg room for seats more cramped. Don’t ask for wine.

The executive needs to be pried out of years-long habits to shift his paradigm a bit. Instead of clinging to routine, he needs to welcome the unexpected. Small steps are needed: change the restaurant of choice, order salad instead of burgers, and brush teeth with the non-dominant hand. If only to learn new routines, these exercises can be liberating. They are also supposed to form new synapses in the brain to ward off dementia.

Anyway, there are still the remaining routines of coffee in the morning, tying one’s shoes, having a foot massage, and paying credit card bills that provide enough predictability (and anxiety) to achieve mental health.

An unplanned day now and then can offer surprises that need quick thinking… on the way to getting into a new routine.

A. R. Samson is chair and CEO of Touch DDB.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

How PSEi member stocks performed — February 1, 2018

February 2, 2018 | 12:00 am

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Thursday, February 1, 2018.

Taiwan firms seeking Mindanao agri partnerships

February 2, 2018 | 12:00 am

THE Board of Investments (BoI) said companies from Taiwan are seeking potential partners for agriculture and aquaculture ventures in Mindanao.

In a statement, the Department of Trade and Industry’s investment promotions arm said that the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) has indicated interest by its members in striking potential partnerships.

TAITRA manager Albert Fan met last month with officials from BoI’s Davao office, the Mindanao Development Authority, and the Department of Agriculture.

According to BoI data, Mindanao received P29.35 billion worth of investments from registered projects in 2017, most of it directed to Region XII (Soccksargen) which received P15.25 billion, followed by Region X (Northern Mindanao) at P7.23 billion.

The Region XI (Davao Region) generated P5.42 billion worth of investments last year while Region XIII (Caraga) received P1.44 billion.

According to BoI, around 20 to 25 Taiwan companies involved in food processing and packaging, green technologies and medical devices will be heading to Davao next month to seek out prospective business partners. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Nation at a Glance — (02/02/18)

February 2, 2018 | 12:00 am

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.

Your Weekend Guide (February 2, 2018)

February 2, 2018 | 12:00 am

’Night, Mother

PETA closes its 50^th theater season with Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer-prize winning drama, ’Night, Mother, featuring Eugene Domingo and Sherry Lara. On an otherwise normal evening, Jessie announces to her mother Thelma that she plans to kill herself before the night ends. The show runs until March 18 at the PETA Theater Center, No. 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City. For tickets and schedules, visit TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Manila Biennale

INTRAMUROS’ parks, Fort Santiago, Plaza Roma, Baluarte de San Diego, Puerta Real, and Casa Manila will be open to the public for P75 (adults) and P50 (students) throughout biennale month. Enjoy the parks, the exhibitions, shows, parties and more throughout the month. A free admission open house public preview will be held on Feb. 3 during the first #VivaManila Pasyal and Art Market.

7-Eleven Run 2018

PARTICIPANTS from Manila, Cebu, and Davao will run in unison at the 7-Eleven Run 2018 on Feb. 4, 4 p.m., at Filinvest City, Alabang (Bridgeway Ave. and Spectrum Midway).

Dex Fernandez exhibit

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines presents GC: 1, 2, 3, a video narrative of three chapters about Dex Fernandez’ Garapata character. The video can be seen from Feb. 3 to March 4 at the third floor hallway gallery. It showcases Fernandez’ collaborations and maps out the artist’s growth with replays, pauses, and repeats of images. An artist reception will be held on Feb. 15, 6 p.m. For more information, call the Visual Arts and Museum Division at 832-1125 loc. 1504/1505 and 832-3702, 0916-281-2479, e-mail ccp.exhibits@gmail.com, or visit www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.

Benefit concert and one-man exhibit

THE Center for Possibilities Foundation, Inc. presents Not About the Dog, a one-man exhibit on Feb. 3, 5:30 p.m., at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Ayala cor. Gil Puyat Aves., Makati City. The exhibit will feature a series of paintings by Juno Santos, a child with special needs. The event will open a special benefit concert, Love & Luck: Bach vs Beatles with the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Prof. Arturo Molina, a fund-raising effort for the many endeavors of the Center for Possibilities. For reservations, contact Jennifer Rockwell at 0920-865-4039, 0905-367-8710; or Max Arroyo at 0908-989-8237,or 0956-823-959.

A Comedy of Tenors

REPERTORY Philippines opens its 2018 season with A Comedy of Tenors, ongoing until Feb. 18 at the Onstage Theater in Greenbelt 1, Makati City. This hilarious operatic farce is set in a hotel suite in 1930s Paris where a harassed producer, his frazzled assistant, an aging temperamental opera star and his hot-blooded wife, their daughter and her lover, an opera diva, and a singing waiter, converge before an important concert. The play is directed by Miguel Faustmann, and stars Lorenz Martinez, Shiela Valderrama-Martinez, Noel Rayos, Jeremy Domingo, Issa Litton, Arman Ferrer, and Mica Pineda. For tickets and schedules, visit TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Which activities ended 2017 with faster bank loan growth?

February 2, 2018 | 12:00 am

Statement of Goldilocks on scrapped takeover deal with SM Retail

February 1, 2018 | 5:23 pm

Below is a statement released by Goldilocks President Richard L. Yee on the scrapped acquisition deal with SM Retail:

“I would like to confirm reports in the media that the partnership between Goldilocks and the SM group will no longer push through. This was a mutual decision, which was jointly agreed upon after friendly and productive dialogue. Since we first began talks with SM, so much has happened in the marketplace, and many changes have occurred in our respective business environments. This caused us to re-evaluate our position, and to arrive at a decision that we feel is best for both companies.

We would like to thank the SM group for their intent to partner with us. This is yet another validation of our efforts to strengthen our leadership position. To this end, we remain focused on our plans and strategies, which has allowed us to achieve double-digit growth in the past few years. We now have over 600 stores to serve our customers nationwide, and we will continue this expansion in order to be more accessible to our customers.

Goldilocks has always been committed to serving our customers with the best products wherever they may be and we remain steadfast in that commitment.”