Everyone was excited for the first round of company visits of the 9th AmCham BOP. They had breakfast together with Mr. Rick Santos, President and CEO of CB Richard Ellis, at the AmCham Hall on Monday morning.
Mr. Santos focused his talk on leadership. He posed the question to the delegates, “If time and money were no object and success were guaranteed, what would you do?” and asked them to write their answers on a sheet of paper. He asked the delegates to send him an email of their answers to the question. The best answer will be recognized during the Awards Night and the winner will receive a mobile phone.
He continued to expound on his topic by citing famous leaders like Efren Penaflorida, Warren Buffett, Tony Meloto, Manny Pangilinan, Henry Sy, Jack Welch, Walt Disney, and Mahatma Gandhi. He also showed a video clip from the movie “Remember the Titans.”
“Be ready to change and adapt to the international world. If you want to be successful going forward, you look back to the piece of paper you’ve written on this morning,” he said. Apart from sharing other leaders’ success stories, he was also very generous to share to the delegates his personal story.
He then talked about the positive outlook of the Philippines under the administration of President Aquino. He cited the boost in investor’s confidence and financial health of the country. “Now is the best time for the Philippines; now is your best time to shine as leaders,” he said.
The delegates were all excited for their first company visit—Mead Johnson Nutrition at its headquarters in Makati City. The group was warmly welcomed by Mr. Paul Richards, MJN Country Manager, and his management team. He presented the history of Mead Johnson Nutrition worldwide as well as its local unit which has been in existence for more than 60 years. MJN Philippines is the fourth largest MJN subsidiary around the world and the second in Asia.
The delegates became more interested when Mr. Richards explained the different MJN products and how they are being marketed commercially. He said MJN’s strength is on strategy. “Marketing has no science; it’s all about creating a demand for your product and getting them to buy it,” Mr. Richards shared to the delegates.
He discussed the career opportunities in MJN. While they do not recruit new graduates, he was quick to add that MJN will be very happy to get BOP alumni after they get sufficient work experience from other companies. He also gave an unsolicited advice to the delegates, “Leap frog while early than to move from one company to another after 20 years.”
Lastly, he reminded the students of the significance of having a long-term goal but living life one day at a time. “Don’t sacrifice your health, your peace of mind, your friendship, your relationship, your family; you may be missing out on life trying to achieve your goal.”
The delegates were given a tour of its state- of- the- art facility. There, they were able to see first-hand how the milk products are placed in foil packs, then into cartons and, finally, into the boxes which are ready for warehousing and distribution. The fully-automated process made the delegates understand how an assembly line format of manufacturing works.
A buffet lunch was hosted by MJN. The executives sat down with the delegates to entertain their questions. The delegates wasted no time asking as many questions about product development, marketing strategies, company outlook, people management, and the whereabouts of the iconic Susi and Geno mascots of Sustagen, one of MJN’s premium brands.
The next stop for the delegates was Chevron Holdings at RCBC Plaza in Makati City. They were welcomed by Mark Quebral, Regional Manager for Human Resources, and Chevron employees to its training room. The topic on fuel and energy picked the interests of the delegates in view of the rising oil prices and looming power crisis. “It’s getting harder and harder to look for petroleum; oil in the Philippines is scarce,” Mr. Quebral said.
Chevron’s corporate strategy of enabling people has become an effective tool in achieving the companywide mission. “To ensure we have the right people with the right capacities at the right time, we create a world-class, high- performing, diverse global workforce, develop and manage our talent to ensure we have the organizational capacity to execute our strategies,” he explained.
Mr. Quebral took time to explain the Chevron Malampaya Asset, the biggest investment in the Philippines to date, and Chevron’s geothermal plants in Tiwi, Albay and Makban, Batangas. Chevron is the world’s leading developer of geothermal energy and the Philippines is the second largest producer of geothermal energy in the world after the US.
In Chevron, everyone puts a premium on safety according to Mr. Quebral. To prove the point, he presented a video on the companywide effort to ensure the safety of all its employees and stakeholders.
Tom Miclat (BOP 2 alumnus) and Jonalyn Andal (BOP 7 alumna), now Chevron employees, were present throughout the presentation. Ms. Andal shared her work experience on her six months of working with Chevron.
By 400pm, the delegates were back at the AmCham Hall to take the Test of English for International Communications (TOEIC) by John Hopkins International. The two- hour examination tested the listening and reading skills of the delegates. Results of the test are to be released and special citations will be given to the top scorers during the Awards Night on Saturday.
Shortly after the test, they had a forum on business integrity and corporate values by Ms. Grace Sorongon, Vice President of John Clements Consultants, and Mr. Richard McGonegal, President and Managing Director of RCG Information Technology Philippines. One delegate asked about the ethical parameters for employees who communicate thru social networking sites while another one asked about cases of employees sharing confidential information to people outside of the company.
Afterwhich, the delegates had their case mentoring with Mr. Tully Moss, a well-known educator of Harvard Business School programs and consultant to several multinational companies, and Ms. Carol Dominguez, President and CEO of John Clements Consultants. Both helped the groups work on their business plans.
