Articles, essays, and talks of Rey Lugtu

(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