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Q1: Decades ago, Goldilocks had popular cake competitors like Rolling Pin, Merced and Joni’s – all of which are no longer active in the market. Giant Jollibee Food Group acquired Red Ribbon in 2005. What has Goldilocks been doing right all these years for it to hold on to market leadership in the cake industry? I believe that the main […]

Q1: Your company deals mostly with generational transitions.  What are some issues confronting family businesses that are usually overlooked by families? To their credit, most of the family business leaders we meet think a lot about succession. The vast majority are very interested in having what they have built continue into the next generation. More than anything else, the senior […]

Q1: Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of Gingersnaps! What was your inspiration when you first launched a fashionable children’s wear and maternity wear business? We always loved kids, so it came very naturally for us to do something that involved kids. At that time, there was an absence of fashionable children’s and maternity clothing. We wanted to change the way […]

Q1: Why do you use Chief Evangelizing Officer as  your position title in your company? What is your “evangelizing” mission? Your goal is not simply to make a sale today, you want to invite your customers to join you in your cause… your mission. In our case, more fun in the beach with Beach Hut Sunblock or making sure your […]

Q1: Congratulations on your leading Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation (YBHF), which started as the Zamboanga Fund for Little Kids, can you share a brief history how this boat advocacy was born? This boat advocacy started when Juljimar Gonzales shared the story of how he saw a group of kids at Layag Layag with one hand holding a plastic bag and another […]

Q1: What tools do you use as a guide to help spot opportunities and formulate the right business and marketing strategies? For Product Planning: Industry Scanning/Emerging Trends for new product development BCG Matrix (Revenue/Value/ Volume), Gross Margin, Market Share to assess performance of existing products For Marketing Plans Industry Analysis (Key Success Factors, Competitive Landscape, Emerging Trends) Brand DNA SWOT […]

Chairman and Chief Marketing Strategist of Mansmith Training Group Chairman and CEO of Waters Philippines Chairman / Vice Chairman / Director of over 12 companies Former Director of Waters-Asia (1995-2000)

In business strategy, we often obsess over price elasticity—the mathematical relationship between cost and demand. But as we navigate the complexities of 2026, the marketplace is being reshaped by a far more volatile force: The Psychology of Uncertainty. Uncertainty is often more damaging than an actual price increase. While a price hike is a known variable one can budget for, […]

In strategy, what you don’t know can hurt you. But what you “know” for sure, that just isn’t so, will kill you. When we apply the PILA (Problem, Insight, Logic, Assumptions) reasoning stack, we see that the foundation of many global FMCG strategies is where the rot begins. Organizations have replaced “examine and reflect” with a “present and assume” culture, […]

Josiah Go features the movers and shakers of the business world and writes about marketing, strategy, innovation, execution and entrepreneurship

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