French oil giant to invest P400 million for Cebu stations

By Ehda M. Dagooc (The Freeman) Updated March 13, 2010 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - French oil giant, Total (Philippines) Corporation (TPC) announced its P400 million investment plan for Cebu in the next three years.

This plan includes the installation of five more stations in Metro Cebu this year, which will incur an investment of P120 million.

In an interview with TPC president and managing director Ernst Wanten, he said that Cebu’s vibrant economy presents a growth opportunity for TPC.

Since its entry to the Philippines in 1998, Total has already installed 133 stations mostly in Luzon. This year, the company has decided to explore the Southern Philippine market, through a stronger presence in Cebu.

As part of its expansion program, the company opened a fuel depot in the province, which has a capacity of two million liters. It also currently upgraded its waterborne fleet with the acquisition of MT Camille, a 3,651 deadweight ton double-hulled vessel classified by the Korean Register Shipping as accredited by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). The depot will serve both retail and wholesale consumers.

Total’s strong entry in Cebu will not only provide wider options for consumers to get their fuel requirements, but it also offers business opportunity for entrepreneurs who may want to partner with the Total.

The company offers two packages for entrepreneurs for partnership these are via Company-Owned-Dealer-Operation (CODO) and Dealer-Owned-Dealer-Operated (DODO) options.

Of the total 133 gasoline stations installed by Total in the Philippines, 97 of which are DODO, and 36 are CODO.

In Cebu, Wanten said the company will build the infrastructure, which means the physical gasoline stations, and partnership will depend on the negotiations of interested entrepreneurs.

The first Total station in Cebu is located along Plaridel Street in Mandaue City. It has four pump islands and also has a Bonjour convenience store and Café that offer a wide selection of quality snacks and sundries. It is run by a staff of a 25 personnel.

“Our forefront service crew and Bonjour staff have been trained on the Total brand of customer service, which is what differentiates us from our competitors,” he said.

The Total big boss was here in Cebu to attend the Petro/World Forum held last March 9 to 12 at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa in Mactan Island.

In the next three years, the company plans to build at least 20 Total gasoline stations around the Cebu Metropolis.

“Cebuanos are different clientele. They are interesting,” Wanten said describing Cebuano customers as more demanding and critical. He said this is what makes it challenging for Total to establish its brand here.

With the quality and competitive products and prices offered by the company, Wanten is confident that Total will be able to hit the taste of the “Cebuano market”.

Total is the fifth largest publicly-traded integrated oil and gas company in the world. It reported sales of 179,976 billion Euro in 2008.

Net hot money inflow hits $308.7 million in January-February

By Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star) Updated March 14, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported a net portfolio investment inflow of $308.7 million in the first two months of the year or almost 14 times the inflow of $22.6 million registered in the same period last year due to higher export earnings and additional government borrowings.

Data released by the central bank showed that BSP-registered foreign portfolio investments increased $286 million from January to February this year after the country’s merchandise exports jumped 42.5 percent in January.

“Net inflows were sustained due to news on higher export earnings, inspite of jitters about the coming elections and recent sovereign debt concerns in some European countries,” the BSP stressed.

Inflows surged 53.9 percent to $1.076 billion in the first two months of the year from $698.92 million in the same period last year. Major sources that accounted for about 83 percent of the total portfolio investments in January and February included the United Kingdom, the US, Malaysia, Luxembourg and Singapore.

On the other hand, gross foreign portfolio investment outflows climbed 13.5 percent to $767.73 million in the first two months of the year from $676.3 million in the same period last year due to withdrawals from interim peso deposits.

For the month of February alone, foreign portfolio investments posted a net inflow of $139 million, a complete reversal of the $198.73 million net outflow registered in the same month last year.

Portfolio investment inflows surged 154.2 percent to $500.39 million in February from $196.85 million in the same period last year.

Investments in shares being traded at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) accounted for about 74 percent of the total inflows, followed by government securities with 18 percent, and peso bank deposits with minimum maturity of 90 days with eight percent.

On the other hand, outflows retreated 8.5 percent to $361.81 million in February from $395.58 million in the same month last year.

Registration of inward foreign investments with the BSP is voluntary. It entitles the investor or his representative to buy foreign exchange from authorized agent banks or their subsidiary/affiliate foreign exchange corporations for repatriation of capital and remittance of dividends/profits/earnings that accrue on the registered investment.

The Philippines shrugged off the global recession and posted a portfolio investments net inflow of $388.02 million in 2009, a complete reversal of the $1.784 billion outflow posted in 2008.

Inflows, the BSP data showed, amounted to $6.335 billion last year or 23.8 percent lower than the $8.321 billion inflows registered in 2008 while outflows fell 41 percent to $5.947 billion from $10.105 billion.

BSP sees OFW remittance growth of 6% in January

By Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star) Updated March 14, 2010 12:00 AM

Tetangco

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) believes that the amount of money sent home by Filipinos from abroad in January grew by more than the full year growth target of six percent due to high demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters Friday that overseas Filipino workers’ remittances likely grew faster in January than the full-year growth of six percent based on preliminary data.

“This year we are projecting six percent for the whole year, but for the initial data I have seen, it looks like the figure for January could be in excess of the projection for the year,” Tetangco stressed.

The BSP sees OFW remittances growing by six percent to a new record level of about $18.1 billion this year.

Last year, remittances went up by 5.4 percent to a new record level of $17.348 billion last year from $16.426 billion and exceeded the revised four percent growth forecast set by the central bank due to the sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers overseas particularly engineers, medical practitioners, and teachers.

This, after the money sent home by overseas Filipinos surged by 11.4 percent to hit a new monthly record high of $1.567 billion in December 2009 from $1.407 billion in December 2008.

The amount eclipsed the previous monthly record high of $1.531 billion registered last October.

Major sources of remittances last year included the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany.

The remittance level accounted for about 10.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) that expanded by 0.9 percent last year from 3.8 percent in 2008.

The stronger-than-expected growth could also be traced to the decision of the government to conduct bilateral talks with host countries that continue to open up new employment opportunities abroad for Filipinos and to facilitate the hiring of displaced workers who were affected by the global economic difficulties.

Authorities also cited the continued expansion of remittance transfer facilities that has helped capture a large share of the global remittance market.

Commercial banks’ established tie-ups, remittance centers, correspondent banks, and branches or representative offices abroad increased to 4,192 as of 2009 from 3,015 as of 2008.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that the government processed about 41.6 percent or 221,548 of the total job orders that reached 532,214 last year. These jobs comprised mainly of service, production as well as professional, technical, and related job categories in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, and Hong Kong.

The POEA reported that Middle East countries particularly Saudi Arabia continue to absorb a significant number of deployed OFWs including those that have been displaced elsewhere.

The BSP was originally looking at a zero growth last year but later revised the outlook to a growth of four percent due to the steady deployment of Filipino workers abroad and the increase access to formal remittance channels.

OFW remittances are expected to grow faster at six percent next year especially with the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the BSP and member banks of the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (ABROI).

The agreement calls for the use of the central bank’s Philippine Payments and Settlements Systems (PhilPaSS) to send the remitted money to the beneficiaries’ accounts in other banks.

OFW families are expected to save at least P92 million to as high as P922 million due to the faster and cheaper delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at a lower rate of P50 per transaction instead of the current range of between P100 and P550 per transaction.

Learning from Toyota’s stumble

Monday, 15 February 2010 20:37

Long the standard-bearer for quality and efficiency, Toyota now has an ostrich-sized egg on its face: In January, a problem with sticking accelerator pedals led to global product recalls and a suspension of vehicle production and sales. And things have only gotten worse. On February 3, company officials ordered an investigation into complaints over brake problems in Toyota’s 2010 Prius models.

The Japanese automaker’s woes are a reminder that developing capacity for improvement and innovation takes time. In order to expand variety, volume and complexity while maintaining an edge in quality and reliability, you have to consistently develop and reinforce the problem-solving skills of people throughout your organization.

Such dedication used to be a Toyota hallmark. While researching a 2004 Harvard Business Review article on the automaker, I met with front-line teams charged with solving problems related to quality, productivity and safety. These teams were often given many months to find solutions. In a few cases, they were given more than a year to master the skills of problem-identification and resolution.

When I asked longtime senior managers about exemplary leadership, they would regale me with stories of company leaders who had invested time in developing their employees’ capabilities for pushing quality, efficiency, safety and responsiveness.

Sadly, the thrill of catching up to Ford and General Motors, coupled with a boom in demand, led Toyota’s leaders to prioritize sales growth over quality and employee development. This meant that new products had to be introduced more quickly, new plants had to be opened more rapidly and supply networks had to be expanded more aggressively. We’re now seeing the consequences of those decisions.

It will take years of hard work for Toyota to climb out of the ditch it dug for itself. But there are reasons to be optimistic. One is the company’s current leadership. Toyota’s new president, Akio Toyoda, cut his teeth in the factories of China and California, and from day one he’s made clear his view that Toyota has to make quality its top priority once more.

Toyota now faces the challenge of regaining consumers’ confidence—of making its brand once again synonymous with quality and reliability. That won’t happen overnight, which may be a good thing: Hopefully, this crisis will keep Toyota’s attention fixed on rebuilding its capabilities to sustain continuous improvement and innovation.



Steven Spear is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a senior fellow at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. He is the author of Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition.
In Photo: Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp., speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on February 9, 2010. Toyota Motor Corp. will recall 437,000 hybrid vehicles globally to fix faulty braking systems on four models, including the Prius, adding to almost 8 million vehicles the company is repairing for separate defects. (Tomohiro Ohsumi /Bloomberg)

South Korean visitors to Cebu seen rebounding in 2010

Written by Willy Rodolfo III / Reporter

Friday, 19 February 2010 19:39

OPERATORS of the biggest Korean-owned hotel in Cebu are confident arrivals from the region’s biggest tourism market, South Korea, will rebound in 2010 with the A(H1N1) flu scare out and the global economy poised for an upswing. Richie Kang, general manager of the eight-hectare, 557-room Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa on Mactan Island, admitted they were affected by the big dip in arrivals of Koreans in 2009. But he said there are indications the Koreans are coming back. “Starting December, arrivals started to pick up and we expect the numbers to increase dramatically,” Kang said. “It also helps that we now have more flights from Cebu to Korea. If you book a flight, it is already very difficult to find an available seat.” Department of Tourism (DOT) figures indicated that from January to November 2009, Korean arrivals to Central Visayas dipped 15.36 percent. There was also a significant decrease in the number of arriving tourists from Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Germany. Korea, which perennially makes up more than a quarter of arrivals every year in the region, only posted 117,603 arrivals in the first 11 months of 2009, compared with 209,832 arrivals over the same period in 2008. Players said the situation was aggravated by a dip in the arrival numbers during what was supposed to be a peak Korean arrival season between September and November in 2009—the traditional break for schools in Korea. Kang said more than half of Imperial Palace’s clients are Koreans due to their parent company’s strong presence in their home country. The rest of the occupancy is made up of Europeans and domestic tourists. He said Cebu remains a top destination for Koreans as it is perceived to be a “safe country.” “When Koreans hear about the Philippines, they don’t think of Manila. Manila has nothing to offer; it is just the same developed city like the cities we have in Korea,” Kang said. He said their own company’s marketing efforts in Korea sell Cebu as a destination that is safe, with a great beach and out of the typhoon belt.  Consolidated tourism arrivals in Central Visayas broke the 2-million mark in the first 11 months of 2009, posting a 3.52-percent growth without still counting the Christmas arrival rush. Consolidated arrival numbers from January to November 2009 hit 2.018 million, compared with 1.949 million over the same period in 2008, data from the DOT indicated. But foreign tourist arrivals expectedly slowed down. There were 717,325 foreign-tourist arrivals from January to November 2009, 0.49 percent lower compared with the same period in 2008. Japan, which is second to Korea in terms of market size with some 20-percent share of the arrivals in the region, recorded close to 136,000 arrivals, lower than the 140,708 in 2008. The US, which is 10 percent of the region’s market, had more than 68,500, but it was lower than the 74,560 recorded in the previous year. The domestic markets, however, posted a steady growth at 5.88 percent. Over 1.3 million domestic travelers came to Central Visayas compared with just 1.228 million in 2008. Cebu remains the main destination for tourists in Central Visayas, taking 73.64 percent of the pie. Bohol is next with 14.36 percent followed by Negros Oriential with 11.04 percent. Siquijor is fourth, taking 0.96 percent of the arrival numbers. Despite the dip in its major foreign markets, Central Visayas made huge headways in emerging markets like China and Hong Kong. Mainlaind Chinese arrivals—now the fourth-biggest market for the region— doubled in 11 months, hitting more than 56,000, while Hong Kong is near breaking the 30,000 mark. Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada also posted modest single-digit growth, underlining Central Visayas’ allure to long-haul, long-staying tourists from Europe and North America.