Hapinoy – Mark Ruiz Retails Sari Sari Happiness to Filipinos 228.0
“The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield,” begins Peter Drucker’s classic 1985 book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, quoting the French economist J.B. Say. Thus, Mark Ruiz and the Hapinoy/MicroVentures (MVI) team, all social entrepreneurs, are mining a rich vein for social enterprise [...]
EDSA Monuments – Bump and Dip 191.0
Here’s hoping the hump and crater will not survive the Arroyo administration Those of us who ply EDSA regularly have learned to avoid the lump and the pothole that immediately follows it along EDSA at the foot of the left turn overpass to Rockwell. To be fair, it was probably created during President Ramos’s time [...]
Social Innovation and Infrastructure in an Emerging Market 174.0
Fiesta and infra are muscle and bone of the Philippine body politic On the way back from a conference in Tagaytay on Thursday, I took a wrong turn and luckily ended up at the fiesta celebration and Karakol procession at Paligawan, Silang in Cavite. Fiesta. Critics have charged fiestas as wasteful. Yet, as with Ben [...]
Philippines As Emerging Market 157.0
Let us stop flagellating ourselves with negative news From 2005, Goldman Sachs identified the Philippines as one of eleven countries “that could potentially have a BRIC-like impact in rivalling the G7.” More recently, in September 2009, the FTSE Global Equity Index Series classified the Philippines as one of seventeen secondary emerging countries with regards to [...]
Technology Innovation Strategy for Emerging Markets 156.0
Catching up and leapfrogging is hard; Improving winner industries in captured growth markets with enabler technologies easier Each country, because of its level of development, will have its own bounded innovation ecosystem that is intertwined with that of the rest of the world. The Philippines, as typical of emerging markets, does not lead in any [...]
Innovation Opportunity from Adjacency – BYD Auto 127.0
BYD goes from rechargeable batteries to electric cars BYD Auto is the prime example of successful innovation and entrepreneurship from the application of ‘adjacency’ strategy. BYD expects to become the largest car company in the world within five years – and with electric cars, at that. It will end up to be the most innovative, [...]
Remove U-turn Slots, Just Apply Basic Discipline with Traffic Lights 118.0
Filipinos living overseas seem to behave differently from Filipinos in the Philippines. I am now engaged in an ongoing e-forum debate. My antagonist blames attitude and culture as if the Filipino disembarking from a plane in Heathrow suddenly becomes a changed person. For me, the difference only proves that a Filipino adapts his behavior well [...]
Technology Convergence – The Philippines as One Virtual Bodega 2 of 2
(Start of 2 of 2) In this post, we propose a solution to the problem via a change in the national logistics model. This proposal lowers delivery cost for producers and buying cost for consumers at the same time. This proposal is an opportunity for existing or new players and systems integrators to come together. [...]
Opportunity from Technology Convergence – The Philippines as One Virtual Bodega 1 of 2
It costs more to ship a full container from Manila to Mindanao than to Hongkong or San Francisco. Thus, food and other goods from the provinces is more expensive for the city people. At the same time, lower demand from the city slows down development in the provinces. Overall, it makes everybody poorer. High internal [...]
