By Joel T. Fagsao

There will always come a period in the lifecycle of your enterprise where you have to take measures to move up or be left behind.  Today’s business climate more challenging and there’s no room for those who are complacent.   Decades ago, the business set-up had a very simple management structure.  Back then, businesses only required the owner to operate it.

Today is another story.  Current business models or today’s business set-up may become obsolete in a few more years.  For example, If you are in the retail business, and you happen to be in a growing community, getting goods from suppliers, marking them up and selling to your customers may no longer be enough.  At these times, you have to be more sensitive to the needs of your customers.  You also have to learn to start adding value- customers are now more informed, have a wider range of choices and demand value for their money.

So what do we mean by value chain?  A value chain involves several enterprises working together to satisfy the customer’s demand for a product or service.  For example, in the informal mining industry sector, to bring the final product-gold to the market, several actors play the part.  At the bottom of the chain is the miner who goes underground.  Along the way, several other actors work including the truck driver, the supplier of chemicals or basic necessities to support the miner until the gold is extracted and brought to the middleman.  If you are at the bottom of the chain, you tend to be doing the more difficult job.  Of course, somebody else has to do it but now is the time to adapt strategies to expand one’s influence on a larger scale and not be content to stay on one component of the entire chain.

So what then are the ways?  For one, the miner in the informal mining industry can invest in equipment and along that line, serve other fellow miner’s needs and eventually becoming the gold buyer.

In the education and training services sector, technical-vocational schools the looming implementation of the K to 12 policy (2 more years in high school) of the Aquino government is a warning bell.  The scenario includes a possible year wherein technical vocational schools and colleges will not have freshmen students.  The state colleges have no problem in this area because they are being supported by taxes.  The private sector however faces uncertainties-but as always, in difficult times, the enterprising spirit prevails.  The private education sector instead of sulking in a corner must face adversities head on and turn the situation instead into opportunities.

(Photo:  Xijen College graduation ceremony of Computer Hardware Service Technician and Secretarial, year 2005) The private tech-vocational sector must move up from the national competency certification administered by the government’s technical vocational authority (TESDA).  In the case of computer technician students who study for two years, the K to 12 could possibly put the computer technician training at the high school level.  To counter this, a private technical vocational institute could work on to improve the curriculum and go for a more globally recognized certification like the CompTIA.  The CompTIA website explains the CompTIA certification as:

“CompTIA A+ certification validates foundation-level knowledge and skills necessary for a career in PC support. It is the starting point for a career. The international, vendor-neutral certification proves competence in areas such as installation, preventative maintenance, networking, security and troubleshooting.   CompTIA A+ certified technicians also have excellent customer service and communication skills to work with clients.”    Computer Hardware Technician students of Xijen College at the lab. A private technical vocational school that continues to offer the recommended required competencies based on the National Certification standards for computer technicians- could be stuck in the increasingly fast paced changes in the information technology industry.  We now have things like cloud computing, security concerns on the integrity of data in our storage devices, networking beyond the traditional local area networks- all the new developments in the computer industry must be met with updated, upgraded training programs.  Private technical schools must be given more freedom to chart their paths-all in the name of providing relevant and up to date training programs to prepare students for the demands of the workplace.  At the current set-up, it is mandatory for students enrolled in technical-vocational schools to take up national certification exams.  I have been advocating tech-vocational training in the field of Information Technology for the past twenty years and I long to see a time when the government liberalizes this sector and let the industry establish its own standards as dictated by real world demands for the entry level worker in the information technology sector.  At this point, Xijen College of Mountain Province is working on plans to enhance the computer technician curriculum along the line of the CompTIA- in the next two years, I hope to see our students take the CompTIA certification examinations.  After all, the CompTIA A+ certification is accredited by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).Here’s to a better Philippines in 2012.  Cheers!