The writer’s family always looks forward to bask in the beauty of the country – one of the many motivations for their periodic trips and why they keep and call it home.
The daughter (typically) travels ahead, as self-appointed scout, and picks dream destinations with cousins and plans out-of-town trips for the family. She emails the parents, waxing poetic while still in a (new, secluded cove) resort in Boracay: “this is as good as it gets, bar none”.
She then arranges a stay at an island resort – a short plane hop from Manila plus a 40-minute drive and a little boat ride – to help parents with their jetlag. It’s Shangri-La, if not nirvana! But the daughter is yet to get over the thrill of the Boracay experience: “It’s top of the top, the service is impeccable and the food is to die for. You have to see it.”
The island resort – with access to natural spring water and offers spa facilities as well as a 9-hole golf course – is idyllic yet world-class. It is being developed by foreigners, but managed by a Filipino company, the family is told. Service is great. They’re a year old and have yet to complete the facility; and acknowledge that capital is vital. And so is their ability to sharpen their marketing efforts: spell out, articulate and communicate their competitive advantage via a well thought out, targeted campaign. Clearly golfers – Filipino and from the region – and/or wellness enthusiasts are ideal guests especially if the resort can arrange in-bound flights. They appear to have resort technology and expertise down pat; and seem to overcome typical teething problems that come with new ventures. The family wishes them well – that they have the requisite resources to carry them through their infancy.
Tourism is an inherent industry given the natural beauty of the country like it is in the Caribbean, for example. Yet, competitiveness – capital, market, technology, and expertise – is overriding if we are to optimize this gift.
While at the island resort the writer’s email inbox has the usual offers from international resort/hotel chains and, of course, Amazon – books, electronics, whatever. On a tiny island in the Philippines, Amazon is effectively competing incessantly. Competitiveness is 24/7 and global, recession or not. And the writer learns that even under the sun’s glare the Kindle (eBook reader) is ever readable. Best of all, it eliminates the need to tote books while traveling.
On the plane to Manila the writer is reading (again) about Hyundai. Last summer he wrote about his positive experience – a pleasant surprise – after picking up a Hyundai rental car at the San Francisco airport. Fortune magazine reports that they are recording explosive growth while the rest of the industry is reeling from sales decline. Competitiveness is 24/7 and global, recession or not. And for Hyundai, it means: (a) shifting from a volume- to a quality and luxury-driven (higher value-added) strategy yet price-competitive, and (b) benchmarking versus Lexus, i.e., stripping it down to match it part by part and bit by bit. Benchmarking demands a forward-looking and an objective mindset – which we must hold when we view our neighbors given their dynamism.
And so Hyundai is moving into the rarified field of top-dollar automobiles – i.e., healthy margins and profits and thus greater investment-multiplier effect! Very soon it will not be shocking to read about China and India getting into the fray! And by then we would not want to be driving our economy on the backs of millions of OFWs. We can’t continue to take for granted the reality that our GDP is miniscule – given 92 million Filipinos we don’t have enough notwithstanding our compassion. Our focus must be to expand our GDP and not simply tweak its many parts. A jeepney is a jeepney despite incessant tweaking. Ours is a structural crisis! We can ignore our economic fundamentals and accelerate our downward spiral?
The daughter (typically) travels ahead, as self-appointed scout, and picks dream destinations with cousins and plans out-of-town trips for the family. She emails the parents, waxing poetic while still in a (new, secluded cove) resort in Boracay: “this is as good as it gets, bar none”.
She then arranges a stay at an island resort – a short plane hop from Manila plus a 40-minute drive and a little boat ride – to help parents with their jetlag. It’s Shangri-La, if not nirvana! But the daughter is yet to get over the thrill of the Boracay experience: “It’s top of the top, the service is impeccable and the food is to die for. You have to see it.”
The island resort – with access to natural spring water and offers spa facilities as well as a 9-hole golf course – is idyllic yet world-class. It is being developed by foreigners, but managed by a Filipino company, the family is told. Service is great. They’re a year old and have yet to complete the facility; and acknowledge that capital is vital. And so is their ability to sharpen their marketing efforts: spell out, articulate and communicate their competitive advantage via a well thought out, targeted campaign. Clearly golfers – Filipino and from the region – and/or wellness enthusiasts are ideal guests especially if the resort can arrange in-bound flights. They appear to have resort technology and expertise down pat; and seem to overcome typical teething problems that come with new ventures. The family wishes them well – that they have the requisite resources to carry them through their infancy.
Tourism is an inherent industry given the natural beauty of the country like it is in the Caribbean, for example. Yet, competitiveness – capital, market, technology, and expertise – is overriding if we are to optimize this gift.
While at the island resort the writer’s email inbox has the usual offers from international resort/hotel chains and, of course, Amazon – books, electronics, whatever. On a tiny island in the Philippines, Amazon is effectively competing incessantly. Competitiveness is 24/7 and global, recession or not. And the writer learns that even under the sun’s glare the Kindle (eBook reader) is ever readable. Best of all, it eliminates the need to tote books while traveling.
On the plane to Manila the writer is reading (again) about Hyundai. Last summer he wrote about his positive experience – a pleasant surprise – after picking up a Hyundai rental car at the San Francisco airport. Fortune magazine reports that they are recording explosive growth while the rest of the industry is reeling from sales decline. Competitiveness is 24/7 and global, recession or not. And for Hyundai, it means: (a) shifting from a volume- to a quality and luxury-driven (higher value-added) strategy yet price-competitive, and (b) benchmarking versus Lexus, i.e., stripping it down to match it part by part and bit by bit. Benchmarking demands a forward-looking and an objective mindset – which we must hold when we view our neighbors given their dynamism.
And so Hyundai is moving into the rarified field of top-dollar automobiles – i.e., healthy margins and profits and thus greater investment-multiplier effect! Very soon it will not be shocking to read about China and India getting into the fray! And by then we would not want to be driving our economy on the backs of millions of OFWs. We can’t continue to take for granted the reality that our GDP is miniscule – given 92 million Filipinos we don’t have enough notwithstanding our compassion. Our focus must be to expand our GDP and not simply tweak its many parts. A jeepney is a jeepney despite incessant tweaking. Ours is a structural crisis! We can ignore our economic fundamentals and accelerate our downward spiral?
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