Opeman holds forum on Revival of Manufacturing in the PHL

Ampitheather, APS, Rockwell Center, Makati City | March 13, 2013

The Opeman cluster, headed by Prof Ralph Ante and under the class of Prof Gus Arguelles held a forum - "Made by Juan for Everyone"  (Revival of Manufacturing in the PHL).  It was well funded, well organized and well supported by sponsors.  There was an overflow of attendees on account of the buzz (campaign by the class prior to the forum) posters , website, prizes, and gifts for the attendees (loot bags). Prof Jorge watched the forum at a remote location:  the ampitheater

The forum featured:

1.  Former Usec of DTI and BOI Cristino Panlillo (former AdeMU basketball star in the l970s, a batchmate of Prof Jorge at AdeMU, Class l972)

2.  Dr. Nerio Usui of Asian Development Bank

3   Director Roberto Batungbacal,  Federation of Phil Industries.

                                Dr. Usui  -  Change your mindset

                               Usec Panlillo discusses the stage 1 of  DTI framework of investment

                           Mr. Roberto Batungbacal, Profs Arguelles and Ante of Opeman Cluster

Pranav case analysis by Dr. Jemer A

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Jose emerson Afable
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 11:20 PM
Subject: Pranav case analysis

Pranav Case Analysis

Entrepreneurship

AGSB MBAH 10B

Jose Emerson T. Afable

Pranav New York was initially conceptualized as a pure male salon-spa business venture and is a very attractive proposition but perhaps the Philippine market is not yet mature enough for such an endeavor. If we look into the business of salon-spa in the Philippines, majority of them are unisex, implying that catering to a single gender only, most especially male only, in this type of business is not that lucrative and profitable. 

As mentioned in this case, to succeed in the salon-spa venture, there had to be a right market, strategic location and ambience, appropriate service offering and hiring the right people, not to mention the right tools of the trade. 

In this case, the entrepreneurs failed to consider several findings revealed by their research on this business, some of which are: 1) for pure barber shops, of course 95% were male, 5% were female  2) for salons, 75% were female, 25% were male  3) for spas, 70& were female, 30% were male. It was very obvious that if you combine barbershop cum salon with spas, females should be included because they comprise majority of the customers.  4) Under pressure, the entrepreneurs missed out on one very crucial point, that is, failure to do proper location study and not gathering sufficient market data on customer dynamics. They practically committed into Robinson's Galleria's offer because it was the first one to offer them, due mainly to Robinson's own reasons for the location, but not because of the entrepreneurs' study results or lack of it. The entrepreneurs were not aware that approximately 60% of mall goers in Robinson's Galleria were females. and that females spent approximately 91% more than males in grooming services. Not including the females was a very costly mistake.  5) An all female crew was also unwarranted since skills like shaving is usually associated with men for they do it everyday  6) An important tool that they omitted even if expensive is the barber's chair. It is so important because it provides a venue for the customer to avail of high margin services without changing location, a vital tool for a customer's convenience & satisfaction, and a very relevant tool for a barbershop's productivity and profitability.  7) The entrepreneurs were also late in analyzing the cost structure as compared to similar businesses/competitors, determining the break-even point of operations, how many customers are needed to pay for the overhead, and also late in realizing that they should have minimized fixed cost early on by adjusting percentage commission based on customer traffic, that is, giving more incentives to staff based on their ability to convince their customers to avail the high value service. They could have minimized fixed costs and unnecessary losses in times of low customer traffic. 

It is therefore very urgent that they immediately open Pranav New York to females, concentrate their services on the more lucrative and often used services like styling haircut, hot oil, hair color treatments, nail services and foot spa to immediately increase the volume of business . At the same time cut the fixed cost by giving the very basic salary and offer incentives if the staff can convince the customers to avail of more high value services, encourage the staff to establish long-term service relationship with their customer to lead to customer loyalty and last but not the least, discontinue their spa services to reduce leased space and eliminate unnecessary cost.

Entrep Food Trip Report by Arlo Cristobal

Entrep Food Trip

By Arlo Cristobal

A-Venue Tent

                I have always been a fan of Banchetto style food exhibits. It's a place where you can find a wide array of food choices that are relatively affordable compared to restaurants. It is also a good avenue to try out innovative food products for vendors since the capital is smaller compared to renting a space for a restaurant.

                For the food concept, there is a variety of offerings, ranging from isaw to different pasta dishes. Besides the food option, what makes this place unique is the experience itself. A lot of times, we find ourselves deciding which place to eat, often thinking of the food offered in the restaurant. In the A-Venue Tent, you can just opt to go there without planning and simply decide which food to buy without the need to break-up the group. For this reason, this had attracted a lot of young professionals who want to enjoy different types of food, while keeping the cost down. I also noticed a lot of foreigners in the area, which can be attributed to the location.

                To add to the variety of food, there was also a stage set-up for a band. This also gives the place a restaubar feel, where you can hang-out for an extended period of time. This set-up creates a lot of interest to passers-by and, in my opinion, is successful in pulling customers in.

                This venture is definitely a success if the product that you sell caters to the interest of the crowd. Also, since this isn't a high-end place, the price of your food should also be affordable. Another proof of its success can simply be traced to the volume of people in the area, which is quite significant given that we visited on a Tuesday.

Dona Dona BBQ

                Normally, I stay clear of Korean restaurants in Manila. The main reason being the cost. The concept of the Dona Dona BBQ restaurant is quite straight forward – bring the Korean food experience in the Philippines. Although the ambiance of the place doesn't feel very Korean, the food certainly did. Being served by the owner, Dona from Korea, also pushed the experience to the next level.

                The innovation part of this restaurant would have to be the price. For me, authentic Korean restaurants are relatively the same in terms of the food they offer. The main differentiator for Dona Dona BBQ would be how they managed to lower the cost, yet still offer authentic Korean food. Lower price in this case is relative to other Korean restaurants both in the Philippines and in Korea. I'm actually quite interested on how they source and make their ingredients. If it's imported, they are doing a really great job to keep the price down. If it's sourced locally, then they are doing a really good job transforming it to a Korean delicacy.

                Given that the restaurant had been there for 5 years, it's obviously a successful venture. However, success is really subjective, and it seems that the success that they are getting is quite limited to their view of success. They may be profitable, but their profitability may be limited. They are located in a good venue where traffic of people is high. But still, competition in the area is also very high. If they really intent to maximize profit, they should differentiate their restaurant from the competition by starting with the ambiance. They may offer authentic restaurant food, but I would not have known that from the outside. To add, the place looks a bit shabby and would greatly benefit from a good scrubbing.  

Goldilocks

                To cap the night off, the group ordered cake and coffee in Goldilocks. Goldilocks had already made a name for itself so we can't really argue with their success as a dessert chain. One thing that could be noted in the branch, however, is that it was the only dessert place I saw in the area. It's also quite convenient since it's along the street.

                Aside from location, the convenience of buying in the place is also quite genius. They were able to maximize the small place, placing a shelf in the middle, while still allowing customers to browse through their products. Their range of offering also doesn't compete with the surround restaurants, but instead complements it. They have cheap, but good coffee. They have snacks, desserts and even cakes that you can buy to surprise the birthday celebrant in the neighboring restaurant. They aren't renting a big space because they don't need to. It won't surprise me if they are generating better profit compared to some of the restaurants in the area.