Research

AGSB Occasional Paper Series (OPS)

The Occasional Paper Series (OPS) is a regular publication of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) intended for the purpose of disseminating the views of its faculty considered to be of value to the discipline, practice and teaching of management and entrepreneurship. The OPS includes papers and analyses developed as part of a research project, think pieces, and articles written for national and international conferences. The OPS provides a platform for faculty to contribute to the debate on current management issues that could lead to collaborative research, management innovation and improvements in business education. Contributions to the OPS may include studies that are preliminary and subject to further revisions and review. They may also include reflections, essays, methodological discourses, critiques, or analysis of management issues that are not necessarily part of a research project.

AGSB Special Studies

• ISO 9001.2000 as Change Strategy

  Eliseo A. Aurellado

  Abstract
  Total Quality Management (TQM) and International Standards Organization (ISO) are the two most commonly-adopted quality management systems (QMSs). These systems reflect a strategy of pursuing a quality objective that benefits the customer using methods that are people and process-oriented. In the implementation of such a strategy, certain changes are expected to happen. The need to manage these changes effectively becomes a major organizational concern. This paper examines the ISO system as an appropriate change strategy to improve organizational effectiveness. Considering the contradictory outcomes companies experience after they have adopted QMS, this paper seeks to determine whether ISO would produce the results that it promises; and validates whether the beneficial effects are a consequence of ISO having latent organizational development (OD) characteristics.

• Culture, Corruption, and the Prospects for Change: A Statistical Study

  Joseph I. B. Gonzales

  Abstract
  Corruption, linked theoretically and empirically to low levels of democracy and governance, and to economic underdevelopment, has been identified by leading international institutions as one of the principal, if not the foremost, economic problems of the Philippines. High levels of corruption in the Philippines have also been attributed to cultural factors. Using the World Values Survey (WVS) two-factor cultural construct, this study demonstrates strong associations among culture, corruption, and democracy and governance across various countries worldwide. A time series analysis forecasts gradual improvement in democracy and governance ratings and a slight decline in corruption ratings for the Philippines. The study affirms that culture is strongly related to corruption in the Philippines. While individual political events and actors directly affect the political situation, the study concludes, unfortunately, that any improvement is likely to be gradual. The relationship between culture and corruption in other countries warrants further investigation because of its implications for the case of the Philippines.

• Accelerated Learning in Business Education

  Winifrida M. Constantino
  Ricardo R. Palo
  Yolanda P. Ibarle
  Krishna U. Reyes

  Abstract
  This study investigates the attitudes and quality of learning of students and alumni in the accelerated MBA program of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and assesses these in comparison with those in the traditional MBA program. This is of particular importance because of the intuitive notion in higher education that learning is less effective when less than the traditional amount of time is devoted to it.

  The profile of the students surveyed show that those who take the accelerated programs tend to be older and have longer work experience as compared to their counterparts from the traditional programs, consistent with the findings of similar studies involving colleges and universities in the U.S. The study indicates that, in general, the perceptions and attitudes of students and alumni in the accelerated MBA program and in the traditional MBA program are not vastly different, with both showing positive perceptions and attitudes with regard to motivation, and instruction and materials. In the case of the performance assessment of current students, which was based on summative problems and cases given at the end of the term, there is no significant difference between the mean scores of the students in the accelerated and traditional programs for two of the subjects that were selected for the study, namely, Human Resource Management and Quantitative Methods for Managers. For Strategic Management, the other subject selected for the study, the mean score of students in the accelerated program is slightly better than those in the traditional program. These findings are consistent those of previous studies done on the subject matter. In general, one could say that those taking the accelerated program are able to do just as well if not better than those taking the traditional program.

• Initiating a Successful SME Supplier Development Program: Key Factors for a Big Enterprise Customer

  Enrico C. Mina

  Abstract
  The study measured the significant improvements that took place in 39 Toyota-nominated small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that participated in the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) Big Enterprise-Small Enterprise Productivity Improvement Program (EBESE) Phase 3 (2008). EBESE is a Supplier Development (SD) program in which big enterprises (BEs) enrolled their Tier 1 or Tier 2 SME-suppliers. An independent consultant-expert was assigned to help each SME to make tangible housekeeping and process improvements in its pilot area. Using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, the study identified three major success factors:

  1. The practices of the BE customer that support SME-focused SD as a legitimate strategy to gain competitive advantage;
  2. The cooperation of the SME suppliers in BE-initiated SD programs in order to improve their competitiveness in terms of quality and productivity; and
  3. The services given by the support institutions (including the outsourced consultants) to the SMEs.

  The study recommends policies for BEs, SME-suppliers, and support institutions so that SD programs will have higher chances of success and sustainability in improving SME quality and productivity.

• Factors Associated with Poverty Movement of Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation’s Clients

  Asuncion M. Sebastian

  Abstract
  Despite microfinance’s goal of moving the marginalized out of poverty, most studies neither categorize microfinance clients by poverty status nor measure their poverty movement (Maes
  & Vekaria, 2008). Available studies have shown evidence on microfinance improving the many indicators of quality of life such as income and asset, but these items do not necessarily translate to the poor’s positive poverty movement.

  This study identifies the poverty status and poverty movements of clients of Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) using the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI). The 10,650 samples were randomly selected from among the clients with 2008 PPI baseline data and were based in the six provinces where NWTF had operated the longest. The study also identifies the factors associated with their positive poverty movement. The variables tested for association were income of clients’ business location, the clients’ initial poverty index, and entrepreneurial capacity of clients, as measured by the number of their business in the base year and the change in the number of their business over a three-year period.

  Results show that continuing clients tend to experience positive change in higher-income areas, specifically in the cities. The impact of microfinance on poverty is also greater for those starting in extreme poverty than those in higher levels. Those with two or more businesses in the base year had greater tendency to achieve positive movement compared to those with only one business. Finally, sample clients that increased the number of their business became less poor.

  The study also explores the possible association of psychographics of the microfinance clients on their poverty movement.

The Blue Way Case Book

• Blue Way : Case Studies on Leadership, Strategy, and Ethics

  Blue Way is a collection of case studies written by AGSB faculty, which explores leadership, strategy, and ethics as the strong foundation of successful business enterprise and dynamic economic development.

  This casebook contains six cases on Strategy, five on Leadership, and four on Ethics, making sure that it covered small, medium, and large institutions and represented various business enterprises, industries, and some government instrumentalities. They include: GMA 7, Soltronicz, The Medical City, the Central Bank (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), local governments of Biliran and Cebu, Sugar Regulatory Agency, Banco de Oro, Marcopper Mining, and Metro Stonerich. “Disguised” companies include: Red Crowne Cola, Tristar Feeds, Hidalgo Restaurant, Good Samaritan Community Hospital, and Venus Marketing Corporation.

• Blue Way 2: Case Studies on Social Business Enterprises

  Mainstreaming the poor into the country’s economic system, not only as consumers, but, more importantly, as producers or partners in business, or co-creators of value, is the way to move them out of poverty. Without expanding the BOP’s purchasing power by engaging them in the process of value-creation, even if access to market were improved, selling to the BOP will not be a sustainable business model. It does not necessarily follow that the poor will climb out of poverty when they are served as a distinct consumer market. Oftentimes, the poor need partners in identifying market opportunities and seizing them. Many cases have been written about social enterprises in the Philippines, often from the development perspective; in the same way that the millions of poor that comprise the BOP are often viewed as consumers, constituting as they do, as expressed in business parlance, the C, D, and E markets.

  This casebook presents the stories of social business enterprises using a basic business or management framework. It presents their strategies and the management concerns they have had to deal with, be they in finance, operations, and/or marketing. It also illustrates how these enterprises partner with the poor at the various levels of the value chain, to enable them to create wealth, and thereby help them move out of poverty. These social business enterprises are as follows: the Negros Occidental Rehabilitation Foundation Inc. (NORFI), the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), Rags2Riches, Hapinoy, and ECHOstore.

Proceedings

• Green Innovations and Competitive Advantage
• The 6th International Conference on Business and Management Research: The Business and Management Challenges of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015

AGSB Student Business Review

The AGSB Students Business Review (SBR) is a publication in magazine format that features quality student term papers submitted as part of the course requirement. It is intended to recognize, encourage and disseminate exemplary work by students consistent with the virtue of magis (excellence).

Techne: Managing through Numbers

Techne, the first issue of SBR is a collection of student works which focuses on quantitative methods and its practical application. The compilation of articles for this issue is a selection from the many projects that have been completed by MBA students through the years, which demonstrate the practical application of the quantitative methods learned in class to the decision making required of managers in different businesses.

• Techne 1: Managing through Numbers Vol. 1 No. 1
• Techne 2: Managing through Numbers Vol. 2 No. 1
• Techne 3: Managing through Numbers Vol. 3 No. 1
• Techne 4: Managing through Numbers Vol. 3 No. 2
• Techne 5: Managing through Numbers Vol. 4 No. 1
• Techne 6: Managing through Numbers Vol. 5 No. 1
  
• Techne 7: Managing through Numbers Vol. 6 No. 1
• Techne 8: Managing through Numbers Vol. 7 No. 1
• Techne 9: Managing through Numbers Vol. 7 No. 2
• Techne 10: Managing through Numbers Vol. 8 No. 1
• Techne 11: Managing through Numbers Vol. 8 No. 2