Political leadership is on spotlight with today’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). With the investing community watching, statements of facts and policy directions will also be on top of international credit rating agencies’ watch list, specifically with regard to retooling “risk premium” expectations on the Philippines vis-à-vis the region and the world. These “risk premiums” create a bearing in setting borrowing cost expectations (e.g., interest rates) within the financial sector, by balancing a country’s political and economic pluses and minuses, as well as trajectory where it would head next based on appropriate policy mixes.
Once borrowing costs are set, the same is applied within the corporate arena’s business model. Such test will be applied relative to corporate spending against cash flows derived from operations, to adequately gauge where necessary adjustments between the two should be made. This cycle trickles down to an enterprise’s treasury, plant, purchasing, and marketing/sales, and rankings will be equally applied on the human resource side. Productivity will be measured on per-worker basis, which closes in the chain as end-users who go through a spending-income checklist.
Unfortunately for most, skyrocketing fuel prices have put significant pressure on the expenditure side. Unless quicker measures are deployed to improve the income portion, several dread the possibility when cost-push scenarios pile up, leaving ordinary consumers reliant on debt. In plain theory, imbalances either on the left or right side of an equation are abhorred. However, there are approaches that can be done within our reach to balance this uneven setting.
True to form, ingenuity is always emulsified when Pinoys go through rough times. Most are driven to find additional income sources, possibly via “informal markets,” to help an ordinary Juan de la Cruz cope with rising prices. In fact, challenges bring out innate entrepreneurship ability, especially when small and medium enterprises (SMEs) move forward to participating in e-Marketplaces.
The information and technology (IT) arena could actually be an ally to those who might wish to hone his/her entrepreneurial skills. In fact, decision-makers who continuously evolve in e-Marketplaces have more room to appropriately assess and balance situations, without necessarily foregoing revenue-generating opportunities available in exchanges. E-Marketplaces help prospective businessmen achieve savings and do selling functions, without the hassle of worrying on the added spending that comes along with buying infrastructure. For example, farmers’ and/or fishermen’s cooperatives could readily check the timing and availability of their produce, based on requirement invitations available in an exchange. Supply could be readily marketed through electronic catalogues, and relayed in an instance within a community concentrated on scouting for new supplier partners. Community leaders could readily aggregate common supply, without necessarily abandoning the concept of pricing transparency through negotiations. Lastly, communication channels are also expanded, as transport requirements could be readily tapped through logistics providers present in an exchange.
Scorecards are always present beyond any leader’s State of the Nation Address. These are typically disguised in various forms, from children’s report card, medical history to Key Performance Index record and the like, but the important element is that scorecards help us check specific points where we all are, against the direction we intend to go to. Striking a delicate balance defining “adequate” living standards do not simply end at a business leader’s desk, but should also revolve in the way we perceive things and our corresponding behavior in doing what is necessary to hurdle the situation.
Rather than rely on endless rhetoric, enterprises, especially SMEs, could expand income possibilities by entrenching themselves in an e-Marketplace. After all, the best challenge next to flagging “Business as usual” is “Working to serve you better.”
* * *
For queries, e-mail at grace.cerdenia@sourcepilipinas.com, grace.cerdenia@2tradeasia.com.