Articles, essays, and talks of Rey Lugtu

(Published in BusinessWorld, under The View From Taft column, Nov 10, 2005) When seven cabinet secretaries and three bureau chiefs of President Arroyo resigned on the Friday of July 8, immediately followed by resignation calls from the Liberal Party, the Makati Business Club, former President Cory Aquino, and civil society groups, many believed it was the start of the end for President Arroyo. Well, we know what happened. All succeeding events and elements during those times failed to bring about a “tipping point”. A critical mass of people did not congregate in Makati or at Edsa Shrine to set the stage for another revolution against the presidency. Conversely, both Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 revolutions were effected by tipping points or, in the words of Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by “one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once”. What makes events such as Edsa 1 and 2 reach critical mass proportions?

(Published in the Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight column, Oct 31, 2005) Our company recently acquired a number of subscriptions of WeRoam from a telecom company which was distributed to all personnel, who are most of the time in the field, either on sales calls or servicing clients. WeRoam is a wireless internet service that runs on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) technologies, providing up to 220 kbps (kilobytes per second) connection speed and nationwide coverage to laptop users. After only a few weeks of usage, my colleagues and I have discovered a new way of working – true mobility that maximizes the utilization of our time. What is amazing with these new technologies is that it allows one to connect to the Internet, access back-office applications and collaborate with colleagues, customers, and suppliers wirelessly and while on the move anywhere in the country, thereby tremendously increasing productivity. Does this sign

(Published in The Manila Times under the Managing for Society Column, Oct 4, 2005) TEAM” and “teamwork” are perhaps the most frequently used terms in organizations today. This is because these are already established concepts in management practice. There is also a proliferation of leadership seminars and books alluding to these terms. Even government and various sectors of society often use teamwork with reference to national unity. Despite these, many managers misuse, if not abuse, the words “team” and “teamwork.” Some think that any group of employees working together is a team and, therefore, should exhibit teamwork. Some believe that any management grouping, like a committee or council, may be called a team. Many managers hope to motivate and engender “good feelings” among their subordinates and other organization members by simply addressing them as “team members.” Still others openly advocate teamwork, but fail to demonstrate the values and beha­viors that lead to it. So what is

(Published in The Manila Times under the Managing for Society column, August 23, 2005) FACED with pressure on all fronts to compete in this global economy characterized by lower barriers of entry, specialized and fragmented markets, and technological developments, a growing number of companies are pooling their resources to bring better products and services to the market at a faster, more flexible and more efficient manner. Through these collaborative arrangements or partnerships, companies hope to share knowledge, skills, technologies, products, or markets with each other which would be too costly to develop alone. Partnering reflects an appreciation of the limited resources that companies have in gaining access to new markets, learning a new technology, or developing a new product. Michael Cunningham, author of Partners.Com—How to Profit from the New DNA of Business, calls these arrangements as network partnerships—enabling a firm’s business model to form a business network of suppl

(Published in Businessworld under The View from taft column, August 4, 2005) The prisoners' dilemma is a peculiar yet perhaps the most renowned game of strategy in social science. Derived from game theory, it helps us understand what influences the balance between cooperation and competition among two or more individuals or entities in business, in economics, even in politics and other social settings. Professors Dixit and Nalebuff, who have extensively studied game theory as applied in business, succinctly recount this simple yet powerful parable about two prisoners: “The police have arrested two suspects and are interrogating them in separate rooms. Each can either confess, thereby implicating the other, or keep silent. No matter what the other suspect does, each can improve his own position by confessing. If the other confesses, then one had better do the same to avoid the especially harsh sentence that awaits a recalcitrant holdout. If the other keeps silent, then one can obtai

(Published in the Manila Standard Today , under the Greenlight column, July 4, 2005 ) Nowadays, one will often hears from businessmen and managers alike how difficult and tough it is to manage their companies and businesses. They complain of luckluster revenues, rising costs, or a plainly slow market. But what does it mean exactly when they say mahirap ang negosyo ? For managers and businessmen, “difficult times”, is a simplistic expression of what is happening in the external environment. Political instability, rising fuel costs resulting in inflation, implementation of EVAT, currency depreciation, dwindling foreign investments, and the prospect of an economic downturn are just some of the environmental factors that affect the way executives, businessmen, and entrepreneurs manage their organizations in these troubled times. Managers of small and medium enterprises are most especially affected due to their limited resources. Oftentimes, when confronted with these situations, a mana

(Published in The Manila Times under the Managing for Society column, March 22, 2005) Foreign businessmen rank the Philippines as the second most corrupt country in Asia, according to a recent survey conducted by Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC), a Hong Kong-based consultancy group. Also, previous studies by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Transparency International have placed the Philippines among the most corrupt countries in terms of the magnitude of irregular payments, including bribery, in public contracts. The historical background as well as the ramifications of corruption in the country has been discussed extensively in print and television. There is no doubt that it stifles investment and economic growth in the country. Given the large amount of evidence about the corruption problem, why is the progress against it moving at a snail’s pace? An explanation is that corruption is pandemic—that it is culturally ingrained. A study in 2002 by the Philippines

(Published in the Manila Standard Today under the Green Light column, Mar 14, 2005) The number and importance of “knowledge workers” has grown exponentially since the time Peter Drucker coined the term some 30 years ago. A knowledge-worker is one who relies on knowledge rather than skills to perform his or her job. Doctors, lawyers, computer programmers, and technical sales people including the respective managers are examples of knowledge workers. In the Philippines, the growth in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry led to the increase in the demand and employment of knowledge workers. At the forefront of this growth are the telecommunications and e-services such as contact centers and computer animation. The country is now envisioned to be the next ICT hub and best breeding ground of ICT professionals in Asia. Challenging managers With all the importance placed on the ICT knowledge workers, the challenge for managers now is how to improve their productivity a