MTM Program: Strategic Entrepreneurship

Part of the requirement in our Technology Entrepreneurship class is to submit a reaction paper based on an article. Here's mine on Strategic Entrepreneurship.

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When I first heard of the phrase strategic planning at work, it got me uneasy because it was so jargon to me. Fortunately though, it wasn't as scary, contrary to what I first expected. It was an opportunity to be in the world of leaders, planning for the future of the company. The expected outputs of that session were short-term, medium-term, and long term plans for our team. So basically, it was a list of goals and the ways by which we would be able to attain those goals. The most important thing to note though in all those planning sessions was that, all our plans should be in support of the company’s corporate objectives. Initially, I thought that having the corporate objectives is just how the company does things. However, I came to realize that it has basis when in one of our readings for TM 204, it was mentioned that strategies should be anchored to the corporate objectives.

In one occasion, our CEO came over for a visit and shared to us his journey in the BPO industry. He mentioned that there is a big difference on how things are done today as compared to 10 or 15 years ago, in relation to the industry. A lot of new ways of doing things have been introduced, and old processes and practices have to be revised because these does not already fit the present time. And he is sure that in the future, there will still be more changes. And so he stressed the importance of being able to foresee what the next big thing is in the future and being able to get ready for that “next big wave of change” at least in relation to the BPO industry. In 2012, he acquired another company with the primary reason that that company has an established technology which the CEO thinks will be the “in thing” in the future. So for him, rather than start from scratch to replicate that technology, he saw acquisition as the way to have that technology be implemented in his other companies.

In another session, the Global Strategy guy shared that they have set up a “pilot laboratory” in one of the sites to experiment on the best setup of workstations for agents to help them become more productive, given the nature of their work. This is based on the feedback they got from agents. Ten years ago, who would have thought that even workstations would need pilot laboratories? 

In hindsight, I think strategic entrepreneurship has already been a practice years ago. However, it is only in recent times that researchers are focusing on this study, and trying to link it with different other concepts which may or may not have a relation to the concept. Nevertheless, I would like to think that we should only not focus on strategy because no matter how good the strategy is, if it is not executed seamlessly and unexpected risks that we have not prepared for happens, then there are big chances for the strategy to fail. As the famous line goes…failing to plan is planning to fail.

Financial Goals for 2014

Happy new year!

After all the drama in 2013, and all the realizations when my mom left us to join our Creator, my 2014 will now focus on improving my financial status to become more liquid. And so, here are my goals.

1. Complete payment of bank and personal loan - target end of January
2. Religiously pay SK LU
3. Maintain 7k savings for lot processing/housing fund
4. Save 35k to add to safety fund (aka emergency fund). Target to accumulate 3 months' worth by end of year
5. Maintain 2k/month allocation for BDO EIP
6. Increase MF to 20k
7. Add 10-20k in stock market
8. Complete my version of the 52-week challenge
9. Continue donation for church construction in my hometown where my mom was active on her last few months with us

Will update by mid-year on my status.