Q1: Congratulations! After 25 years of waiting, the Philippine congress was able to pass the Philippine Competition Act. Who should be afraid of this? A: The Philippine Competition Act punishes entities that exhibit anti-competitive behaviours, cartel-like actions and abuses in dominant position. If your business is playing fair, there is nothing to fear. What this bill will do is to […]

Q5: Some companies do not franchise their businesses because of quick ROI and significant positive cash flow. A few have been able to successfully expand quickly. What are pros and cons of this approach? Fruit Magic President Dr. Alan Escalona: A business that wants to increase its market reach and advance its brand value needs to expand rapidly. If the said business […]

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 […]

Q1: You are an industrial engineer and you started as a methods officer in the finance function in 1977 for Unilever (then PRC). How did this influence your thinking process in your long career in Customer Development? A: Industrial engineering, in my view, is the application of science in business.  The professional advance of Customer Development (previously called Sales) from […]

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Q1: East West Seeds is the dominant market leader in vegetable seeds in the Philippines controlling majority of the market. How was this made possible in your industry? A: This was made possible by a strong research and development, being close to the market (localized breeding and variety development), understanding the needs of our customers (farmers), excellent technology transfer services and […]

Without a market-driving strategy, a marketing plan focusing solely on the served market is incomplete as it risks losing the underserved or unserved markets (sometimes even bigger than current customers) to other competitors.  Thus, market-driving strategy should be viewed as a source of innovation and growth for old businesses as well as a new and major revenue source of firms. Market-Driving […]

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

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