BY: MAAN P. VILLAR [BS Entrep 3/BSBA Bus. Econ]
Highlights of the past three months include preparing for a rare opportunity I so wanted to immerse myself in, the American Chamber of Commerce Business Orientation Program 2010 (themed “The Best Meets the Best”). I would remember having to pass requirements even if given on short notice like writing two essays, polishing my resume, submitting myself to IQ tests, accounting tests (so hard!) and “Working-under-pressure” tests. How could I forget those phone interviews which lasted for an hour each and drained my mobile phone of its life and that interview I went down to Manila even on a school week end and again was a shark frenzy of wanting to impress the people for whom my dear chances relied on. Alas after the long months, Christian Patacsil, Glaiza Escalano and I got the acceptance forms and documents. That day on the Internet café when we startled people jumping crazy when we saw that indeed, we got in, and browsed again and again the documents still not believing that this was true. Who would have known that I could have passed out of 181 applicants from all over the country enrolled even in the best and not to mention expensive institutions? Riotous and rigorous indeed was that application/acceptance process but it was all worth the long frantic wait and the undying efforts.
Pre-empting failure in our summer classes, Christian and I feared having to balance studies with the program; we knew what higher level of stress we were into. Nevertheless, we could not forego of AmCham, so we packed our belongings (believe me, packing up and carrying heavy luggage/s was hard enough) and took the bus down to Manila all the while worrying and trying to catch up with our academic burdens.
Photo Caption: Arrival and registration at the AmCham Hall
Saturday, April 17, 2010 - We arrived at AmCham Hall (Corinthian Plaza, Paseo de Roxas, Makati City), welcomed by smiling faces from the officers and staff and we met with different students from different schools and places, it was a diverse mixture of the best students in the country and gladly we made instant friendships with them. After a few hours of meeting and conversing with our new friends/colleagues, we gaped at the sight of Ford SUVs picking us up for New World Hotel (formerly Renaissance Hotel). As we entered the convening room, we were given goodie bags that contained a month’s supply of toiletries (having us wonder why we ever bought our own), another containing an array of stationary, school and office supplies and food and beverage. The welcome lunch began with the introduction of AmCham and the BOP with Mr. Jun Salipsip and Ms. Grace Alcid itself as “one of the most important activities of the chamber aimed at making tomorrow’s leaders aware of the contributions of American multinational businesses to the country’s development, offering well-qualified undergraduate Filipino students an opportunity to gain new understanding of key global business and economic issues, through a program of site tours plus in-depth discussions with management professionals from a wide spectrum of leading American multinational companies in Manila”.
Extended to a wide range of universities, students came from Baguio (Saint Louis University), Pampanga (Holy Angel University), Metro Manila (Centro Escolar University, De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, University of Asia and the Pacific, University of the East, University of the Philippines), Cebu (University of San Carlos), Dumaguete (Siliman University), Mindanao (Ateneo de Davao, Xavier University - Cagayan de Oro and Ateneo de Zamboanga), and ARMM (Mindanao State University – Marawi City). Components of the programs are company visits exposing participants to the real world operations of multinationals through site visits and meetings with top company officers and an opportunity to interact and learn with corporate executives from foreign firms, talks on various topics from key individuals from AmCham member firms and partner organizations, a business project where the participants are divided into teams and required to apply their knowledge, working together, on a project during the week and present their project work to a panel at the end of the week and other activities would be the TOEIC tests for English skills administered by TOEIC-Hopkins International Partners and John Clements Consultants, a personality test by Integra Business Processing Solutions, an opportunity to interact with BOP alumni and members at the pre-program cocktail reception and closing dinner, interaction with AmCham members at the General Membership Luncheon Meeting.
The program started with the Everest Simulation hosted by Ms. Carol Dominguez (CEO of John Clements Consultants and BOP 2010 host) where everyone whipped out their laptops and everyone’s leadership skills were tested and not only was it a test of strategic thinking it was also so fun that we got to know everyone well. The Ford SUVs picked us up again heading to our residence for the week. We were billeted at BSA Towers at Paseo de Roxas, Makati City (in front of Greenbelt 5), we settled for a while fixed our things and settled at our rooms (luckily my roommates and I got the largest and fully-equipped roomJ). We were then transported to the US Deputy Chief of Mission’s Residence at South Forbes Park, Makati City. We met so many CEOs, BOP Alumni, BOP members and so many people that are to emulate and never to forget esp. the new US Ambassador Mr. ---. Surprisingly, I had the guts to play the piano in front of these people after being coerced by my fellow AmCham delegates, I was glad they liked it. The DCM toured us around her residence, and mind you, she does this only on a very rare basis. The cocktails gave us a preview of the wonderful food we were to eat for the rest of the week and how full we would be of food we cannot even pronounce.
Photo Caption: Performing a piano piece at the DCM’s Residence at South Forbes, Makati City.
The first night was spent reading our Globe Telecom Case Study by Harvard Business Publishing however we went to our first adventure going out of our rooms and having fun outside and at the rooftop which was quite restricted. We relished the view of Makati and Pasig, delighted ourselves running around Makati with our case study and in our PJs (pajamas), and of course bonded as we went room after room after room and harassed each of our AmCham friends of food and some pointers of what they understood from the case study.
Sunday, April 18, 2010 – The morning was allotted for us to inculcate the case study, ingrain it in memory. We had our first take of a steady rationing of fast food that we got our stomachs full of for the week and had to store since there was really so much food that was given to us. We then walked to AmCham hall and had a working lunch and case study discussion with Ms. Grace Alcid and Jun Salipsip. The case study mentoring followed and lasted well until dinner time. We were then given our personality tests by Integra which results would be shown at our company visit on the later part of the week. This first day of meeting with our group mates for the case study and conjuring up our schemes to win, knowing that the President of Globe Mr. Ernest Cu would be part of the panel of judges.
Monday, April 19, 2010 – Breakfast was made extra special with welcome remarks by Mr. Robert M. Sears and some opening remarks by Ms. Carol Dominguez (who is not only the CEO of John Clements but the Chairman of the BOP Committee). Everyone’s hearts was touched as Mr. Rick Santos the President of CB Richard Ellis gave a talk and shared his life experiences and valuable insights (We thank you Mr. Rick for the copy of Outliers you gave us! J). We were awed by Citibank Philippines being the first company visit and the first of the glamorous places to eat and be photographed at, many were impressed with the talk of Citi’s Corporate Executives and listed Citibank as one of the company’s they want to work for in the future. The next company visit was at Chevron Philippines Inc., Mr. Mark Quebral (Manager, Policy Government and Public Relations) gave as a well-organized and well-prepared talk about the energy industry, everyone understood the ropes working in this very big (not to mention controversial) industry. Our heads having information overload and being drained of running around the city, we went back to the hall and took our TOEIC English Proficiency Examinations. After which, another bountiful dinner was served and hosted by Atty. Lagera.
Photo Caption: Holding up our folders containing the copy of the Chevron presentation
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 – Tuesday began at 3:00 A.M. preparing ourselves for our travel to Clark, Pampanga. Arriving at Peregrine Development International Inc.’s Site we were welcomed by a series of great talks by Mr. Dennis L. Wright (President, he also authored “The Perfect Storm” for The Report), Mr. James Spore (COO) and Mr. Jeff Pradhan (Director, Business Development) it made us wonder how such people could hold and give away so much valuable and useful information on a macro level of perspective. Before going to Iren Dornier’s Technology Site, Mr. Dennis Wright was kind enough to hop in to the bus with us and give as a very detailed, edifying tour around the development site at Clark. At the hangar of Dornier Technology Inc. everyone was eager to see how the planes were made and take pictures and the aircraft parked at the hangar. We did get good photos and learned how these planes were made plus the history behind Dornier, (FYI: the body is made of resin and sheets of thin carbon sheets, fiber glass). Lunch would be served at Holiday Inn Clark Field but before that Mr. Simon Morley (General Manager) gave a brief talk and asked some CDC and CIAC Executives to tour us around the hotel and give us an extensive account of the operations in the hotel. After a great lunch being in a table with executives investing and currently working at Clark, we bade goodbye to Mr. Morley and headed to the hall to have dinner and hear a talk from the US Embassy. Ms. Tyrena Holley (FCS – Commercial Attache) and Tim Neely (Economics Counselor) made dinner fun with a very interactive talk.
Photo Caption: Taken beside a Dornier air craft at Dornier Technology, Clark, Pampanga
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 – We had breakfast with Ms. Marife Zamora of Converys at the hall afterwhich, we travelled to Ortigas to visit International SOS Philippines Inc. at the heavily populated and very busy Philippine Stock Exchange Center. Mr. Serge Grynkewich (President) who was very congenial together with his associates gave as an overview of the company making us understand what it stands for and how it goes about its business. We then travelled for the General Membership Luncheon Meeting hosted by Ms. Amanda Garland (Director, Growth Marketer, IBM Global) at Mariott Hotel, Newport City Complex, Pasay City – we were reminded again and again to look our best and wear some make-up (for the ladies). There we saw a flock of media people and there was a plethora of personalities we were eager to meet. Lucky for me, I was seated at a table with many personalities and; to mention a few, I met and had great conversations with Dr. Erick San Juan (Political Analyst – Author, Journalist – Broadcaster, Doctor of Letters), Dr. Elton See Tan (Chairman of the Board & CEO America California Bank) and Mr. Tony Razon (Vice President, Operations Manager, First Corporate Support Services). After the luncheon, we boarded our chartered bus and wsa transported to Thomson Reuters at McKinley Hill, Taguig City, Thomson Reuters Executives as led by Mr. Raoul Teh (Senior Site Officer) gave us not only a comprehensive discussion about the company but toured us around and had us view photographs taken by TR photographers and we even went inside and browsed through books in their very expensive library.
Photo Caption: After the General Membership Luncheon Meeting at Mariott Hotel, No. 1 New Port Blvd., New Port City Complex, Pasay City (L-R: Christian Patacsil, Yours Truly, and Ernesto Neri of Visayas)
Thursday, April 22, 2010 – Before we went travelling to Laguna, Ms. Trinity Gatuz and Mr. Joseph Sullivan of CalEnergy hosted breakfast at the hall. Upon arrival at Laguna, we went directly to SunPower Philippines Mfg. Ltd.; Mr. Rey Mella (Site Director) imparted the intricacies of producing solar energy and solar cells and panels. As we toured the sights with our tour guides (engineers from the plant), equipped by the given introduction, we understood solar power and the technicalities involved. Another complicated business we were introduced to was the automotive industry as hosted by Ford Group Philippines and a series of talks and safety precautions by Ford Executives. Our dreams are right in front of our eyes, an array of the most beautiful cars. I was really interested in how the cars were hoisted, it was as if you are seeing flying cars, it was the coolest sight ever! We saw how these cars were manufactured, were surprised at the production capacity and output that Ford produces – it is no wonder that Ford is not only archetypal but an industry leader. We headed to Alabang, Muntinlupa City for our Integra Business Processing Solutions Inc. company visit as presented by Integra Corporate Executives. Our tour guides were waiting for us as we exited the chartered bus and we were given small envelopes along with our cute Integra IDs that contained the results of the Integra personality test that we took early during the week. The leadership seminar commenced and the accurate results of the personality test were discussed. I cannot forego of mentioning this but we admired how Integra was almost OCD in their preparations, the give-away things were piled neatly on top of each other and the presentations were very organized, as if everything is on bullet point also extra special was the Integra cooked snack. The tour was also organized, as if our tour guides practiced the whole day before the BOP without it having to be obvious. After a series of company visits and site tours, another sleepless night was at hand as we had to devote the hours left of the day and the next day’s first few hours for our case study.
Photo Caption: At the Ford plant at Binan, Laguna
Friday, April 23, 2010 – The day was opened by another great person, Mr. David Leechiu of Jones Lang LaSalle at the hall, it livened everyone up despite having to stay-up the whole night for case study. Breakfast ended and after a few minutes we were at Mead Johnson Nutrition with a series of talks from its executives spearheaded by Mr. Paul Richards (President and General Manager). The site tour was rousing as we were required to observe the highest level of hygiene being keenly observed and an SOP. We were required to wear a lab gown, face mask; shoes covers, gloves, and wash our hands to the tune of “Happy Birthday”. There was an open forum during lunch at Mead Johnsons and I did appreciate how the company and its heads observed a high level of quality observance and control (as exemplified by Sustagen’s Susie and Geno; they sacrificed profitability and marketability for maintaining quality) and how strictly they adhere to business ethics – they are a company with a very big heart. A liberal company also assuring quality in their tobacco products is Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (recently a merger with Marlboro and now PMFTC), one lesson we learned is that despite a long ensuing battle with a competitor, you could become partners to promote higher profitability and betterment to the business’ state as what happened to Philip Morris and Marlboro who used to be the worst of enemies now having 90% market share because of their recent partnership. After PMFTC, we went to Accenture and heard talks from the Accenture Executives imparting us a lot of information about the industry they are operating in and the company itself, it is a kudos to them how they allot time and devote resources for training their employees continually. Returning to our residences at BSA, most of the groups were cramming, the case study was due 11:30 the next day so we chugged a number of coffee cups and stayed up the whole night. It was not all work, we did bond while doing our contribution to the project and we did wish we were given an extra week to perfect the project and bond more.
Photo Caption: PMFTC Company Visit, descending from the PMFTC offices
Saturday, April 24, 2010 – Today was the most sleepless and nerve-wrenching of all as we were jittering nervous presenting to our panel of judges the project we have enslaved ourselves to for the whole week. As we were transported to the presentations venue which was Mariott Hotel, we were heavy with the last minute preparations and prayers. Mr. Ernest Cu, President of Globe Telecoms was part of the judges. It was not your ordinary defense, we were only given a chance to condense our lengthy labor of love to fifteen minutes and believe me, each of the panelists thrown us very hard questions that we almost were not able to keep our boat afloat – we survived in the end, thankfully! It did not yet sink in that today would be the last day for the BOP, it still is not sinking in up to now. We felt BSA and AmCham hall was our home and the delegates our siblings. At the dinner and awarding ceremonies hosted by Ms. Leslie Bassett (US Embassy – DCM) scheduled the night of the last day, the close knit ties could be felt as everyone huddled together, shared the same funny AmCham antics/impersonations/jokes/stories, and made arrangements of communicating and meeting after the BOP. Memorabilia, certificates and awards were handed out and you could hear from the laughter the added heaviness of emotion of having to miss the people of AmCham. Packing up your things while chatting with your room mates about the whole experience is hard enough so is the thought of finally leaving the whole day. Everyone had a taste of the hastiest week of their lives – it would never be enough.
Photo Caption: Dinner, Awarding and Cocktails at Mariott Hotel
Who would forget a whole day of fast food, fine dining and freebies, goodie bags that made my luggage go from 3 big bags to 9 and of course the times when my fellow delegates and I scoured around while sharing our individual lives to each other and the unending ruminating laughter at each room, the sleepless nights pouring over our own cases or simply having fun, getting so tired posing for literally a thousand photos or those times at the bus we played games and hosted weird “bus shows” impersonating a few BOP personas through a showdown (Ha, ha!). We made valuable connections with executives by talking with them and machinating ways to get to their calling cards. Each day in the BOP was bonding with the delegates, being busy with our case studies and learning so many important lessons that cannot be learned anywhere else and taking down so many notes. It was forming so many ties with the delegates, the executives and the people behind this great life experience that would be ingrained in each one’s memory and changed us as we embarked on a journey back to our lives made better by that great week. One emotion stood out among everyone: GRATITUDE.
