Tag: The View From Taft

The Philippines sits on the typhoon belt in the Pacific and experiences an annual average of 20 typhoons, which cause deaths and agricultural and infrastructure damages.

When I started my small business seven years ago, I didn’t use any of the tools I teach in my Strategic Management class. It’s not that I went into it without much study because I did a lot of the usual trading area surveys, site feasibilities, and financial analyses. Maybe it was because the business is a franchise, or because the decision to start it was more tactical in nature. Regardless, I found the traditional strategy tools more suited for larger companies.

Only eighteen teams remain. The champions of The International 2018, the 8^th annual edition of the world’s most prestigious Dota tournament, stand to share more than P500 million among themselves and with their organization. Even the poorest-performing team will bring home more than P3 million. This is the opportunity that two Philippine-based teams and other Filipino players playing for teams based in other countries have qualified for.

How are you doing? How well did you sleep last night?

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” -- Gordon Gekko, from the movie Wall Street

All of us have attended meetings in which the agenda seemed endless to the point of becoming pointless. And some of us have conducted meetings during which participants looked listlessly at their phones. Sadly, meetings have become both boon and bane in the workplace.

I was recently in New York to meet colleagues in the International Humanistic Management Association (IHMA). Over the three-day meeting hosted by Michael Pirson at Fordham University, we planned how to accelerate progress towards our vision in IHMA: “We envision a society and an economy that works for all. Such a society promotes organizing practices that honors the inherent value of all life and protects human dignity. Management practices in such an economy promote human well-being and focuses on flourishing of all life.”

If you had a choice, would you rather have been born a man or a woman?

In my recent travels, I have seen how tourism can generate income and wealth for people. Tourism refers to all travel-related activities undertaken by a resident to another place for purposes other than work and permanent residence. Tourism offers product bundles composed of “experiences” involving the active participation of the tourist. The tourism product is the complete experience from departure from home to return.

The Ad Standards Council (ASC) is the advertising industry body in the Philippines tasked with screening and regulating content of advertising materials across all...

On April 20, I attended the 3rd National Research and Development Conference held at the Philippine International Convention Center. The conference was organized by...

Following tradition, President Duterte released an Executive Order on Labor Day to somehow address the expressed needs of the country’s workers. As expected, most...

On April 18, I was fortunate to attend a plenary session of the Asian Forum on Enterprise for Society. The topic was “Money for dreamers...

In an open letter dated April 19, 2018, Br. Jose Mari Jimenez FSC, Auxiliary Visitor for the Philippines and de facto head of the...

Our data in this age of social media have never been so ubiquitous. Our personal information is readily available on sites such as Facebook,...

In today’s highly competitive job market, what skills do young professionals need to get their dream jobs? And what will ensure that when they...

Last week, a Facebook post with several pictures of the terrible conditions in the employee locker and rest rooms at a well-known Makati City...

When you ask people why the area from the Pampanga River basin to Manila Bay is often flooded, most of them will cite poor...

I was bullied when I was in grade school. I was fat and had acne. In contrast, some of my female classmates had waists...

I love rock and roll. As Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones wrote, “I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get...

Our legislators are busy discussing changing the Constitution -- again. Our lawmakers, often with prodding from Malacañang and special interest groups, think that the...

Based on a recent study by Shikhar Ghosh of the Harvard Business School, “75% of all start-ups fail” because launching a new enterprise has...

As the Filipino rock band Rivermaya sang, “Panahon na naman ng pag-ibig (It’s the season of love again).” For couples, the coolness of the...

Almost 18 years have gone by now since Congress passed Republic Act No. 9003, known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. The law...

With the strong urging of my strategic management professor, Dina Bernardo, I decided to try dragon boating one Sunday morning and brought my wife...

Whenever friends or students ask for advice about investing in the stock market, I always point to pooled funds as the preferred entry strategy...

Educational networking and study tours enhance liaison, cooperation, and possible partnerships among participating universities. I organized one such tour in Central China in November...

The New Year immediately ushered in the much anticipated and talked about Christmas present of the current administration. On Dec. 19, 2017, President Rodrigo...

When an online newspaper article declared that “Sereno violated SC collegiality,” I took some time to view the YouTube videos of the House Justice...

About a month ago, we observed National Heroes Day, a day reserved for Filipinos who have consistently demonstrated in a very public way exemplary...

Three days from now, we will once again prepare for our noche buena, which, for Filipinos, is one of the highlights of the Christmas...

In late November, a sociology student from the University of the Philippines talked about her experiences of sexual misconduct in the local indie music...

In 2013, Time magazine called the millennials the “Me-Me-Me” generation and its cover declared that “millennials are lazy, entitled narcissists.” Not surprisingly, the age...

Civilized societies create time to remember and honor their heroes. As several others and I have said, celebrating anniversaries or milestones in a person’s,...

The theme of the recently concluded 5th National Business Management Conference (NBMC) is “Grassroots: Towards Responsible Management and Sustainable Business Practices,” which is both...

Humanistic management advocates often challenge how we define ourselves in relation to management and business. On one end, they would define a person as...

Sexual harassment is hard to talk about because it is a socially, emotionally, and gender-charged topic. My earliest exposure to the issue was during...

In August, I attended the 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM) in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the premier conference for students,...

Younger people are often told to find their life’s purpose. We’re encouraged to uphold purpose over profit, or to combine purpose with profit. We’re...

Last Friday, I defended my dissertation proposal for my Doctor of Business Administration degree. As a financial management major and a registered financial planner,...

My early encounters with high school math were horrible. Try as I could, I couldn’t make sense of it. Everything seemed strangely different from...

“What do we need to change in order to develop a new generation of business leaders who connect profits with purpose, who see in...

Any discussion on human rights and the controversy generated by the slashing by the House of Representatives of the proposed budget of the Commission...

Every time I am invited to grab a quick bite, this question usually follows, “Where would you like to eat?” Unless I had particular...