We are reminded to return to the basics during crises or when business seems to be at a dead end. For example, we may all be familiar with Newton’s third law of motion, which states for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In business, this might make us think of what outcomes to expect when we execute […]
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The 36-year-old TV show “Eat Bulaga” has reinvented itself recently with the “Kalye Serye” (street series) segment featuring the Aldub love team. Aldub is short for Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza, the latter better known on TV as Yaya Dub. According to Kantar, Eat Bulaga has so far attracted some 2.3 million new households (almost doubling from their 2.5 million […]
Value chain allows companies to define the sequence of activities as well as key players in their industry. It also helps firms understand potential players that can prevent consumers from buying their products. Entrepreneurs and marketers must be able to read the intent of these four groups – channel, competitors, substitutes and imitators. Channel: Think of the bargaining power of […]
There is a saying that “If you give a man a hammer, he will see everything as nails.” Similarly, when a person learns about the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotions) as a way to attain marketplace advantage, he may apply it without questioning the bigger picture for validity. Below are two truths espoused by over 99 percent of […]
One of the key contributions of Harvard Professor Michael Porter is popularly known as the Five Forces. Simply put, it defines the five major forces that affect profitability in an industry. These five forces are bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, competitive intensity, threat of new entrants as well as threat of substitutes. One of the many features […]
The Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) is the Philippines’ pioneer and largest franchise association. It’s officers list includes the who’s who of business with Samie Lim of BLIMS Furniture as chairman emeritus, Yvette Orbeta of Wendy’s as chairperson, Bing Limjoco of Francorp and Robert Trota of Max’s Group as vice chairmen and Franklin Go of Goldilocks as president . Its membership […]
Execution involves having the capabilities to get the job done. In Mansmith’s implementation workshop, we call this the 3Cs of capabilities – coordination, competency and commitment. This helps in solving company’s execution obstacles by replacing traps with tools. A most fundamental problem in execution is when people create assumptions that someone else in the company will do certain tasks and […]
One of the questions often asked in my marketing seminars is about defending against attacks from competition and even substitutes. When brands become successful, they are bound to attract the attention of others who may want to share a piece of the pie. My advice to clients is to understand the pattern of competitive attacks and to never underestimate competition. Be sensitive to the obvious signs of a potential attacker – new […]
A few years ago, I was one of the plenary speakers of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship’s Go Negosyo Youth Summit. Let me share the five highlights of my talk on “Grow from Failures” where I talked about many business failures from my early days, some of which I also wrote in my book “The WE Entrepreneur”. 1. I was 23 years […]
There are so many ways major retailers selling fast moving consumer products (FMCG) in the Philippines can make money beyond buy and sell. Mansmith conducted interviews with manufacturers on their cost of selling, which revealed a list of at least 30 different charges that are or can be imposed by key retailers one time or another. When introducing new products, […]