Q1: Why is Private Equity (PE) better than getting bank loans, crowd sourcing or getting friends/relatives as partners? A: PE has its strengths and draw backs and ultimately it is up to the Sponsors/ owners of the business to assess whether they see a fit with an outside party investor and their overall strategy and funding requirement. If the Sponsor is simply looking for low cost credit […]
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Q1: Your competitors have attacked your makeup and skincare categories. How are these products doing now and what did you do then to defend your turf? A: Being the world’s number one beauty company gives us two huge competitive advantages in “defending our turf.” The first one involves product innovation. Given our huge investment in our Research & Innovation division […]
Q1: I met you close to 25 years ago when you were country manager of Pioneer Hybrid Corn in the Philippines. Now you are Asia Pacific Corn Marketing Head for Syngenta, a merger of the agro division of Novartis and Zeneca. As a veteran in this field, can you share the highlights and developments that has changed the way business […]
Q1: What is the most often overlooked aspect of shopper marketing which should be very basic to all? Great shopper marketing starts with great shopper insight. Shopper marketing is marketing. Insight drives actions and solutions. Neuroscience proved that 99% of what we do are driven by subconscious behavior or what we usually call habit. People more or less buy the […]
Q1: You were the first non-Japanese woman to be President/CEO of two significant–sized, publicly traded companies in Japan for two very visible iconic brands – Levi’s and Starbucks. What advise would you give young people who would like to follow your path? These were the toughest assignments in my career but also the most rewarding. How does one prepare for […]
Q1: You have been importing medicines for decades. What made you decide to open a retail network via franchising all of a sudden? What was the inspiration? A1: In early 2000, physicians from PGH would recommend their patients to our office in Quezon Avenue, but since we are in the business of wholesale, unfortunately, we cannot sell retail to these […]
Q1: In the diaper business, you have overtaken P&G in terms of market share nationwide since 2012, how long did it take you to take the lead and what was the tipping point? Can you share the strategy (and phases if any) behind EQ? ECG: It was a long process of adjusting to the needs of the market and to […]
Q1: You spent a few years with the US Navy when you were in your early 20s. What made you enter the navy and what habits did you get there that you continue to practice today? Pretty much, my life wasn’t anything worth talking about after dropping out of high school. I really didn’t value education yet back then so I guess I […]
Q1: I have known you since 1982, and you have always been entrepreneurial, please update us about your other entrepreneurial ventures outside of RFM (Joey’s Pepperoni, etc.) On my popcorn and cotton candy business, it is a business I started with my wife Marissa, when we were still single, over 30 years ago. It used to be called Joey’s popcorn […]
“Research results should be “used directionally” and not necessarily to be “followed directly” Edwin Totanes Q1: Congratulations on your winning the prestigious Agora Awards for marketing management from the Philippine Marketing Association last 2013. What do you consider are your biggest marketing achievements so far and why? I have selected 3 examples from my previous employment at a) Kraft Foods, Inc.; […]