Easing Growing Pains: Supporting the Growth of Small Businesses in the Philippines

In explaining the 2015 survey findings that the Philippines has the second to the lowest existing business rate in the ASEAN region, the Philippine Entrepreneurship Report, 2015-16 stated that “business operations become more burdensome as they grow due to the more restrictive regulations on large enterprises” (Velasco et al., 2017, p. 40). Established businesses, particularly firms operating in the formal sector, shoulder higher taxes and are subject to social security contributions, minimum wage, and industry-specific regulations (Velasco et al., 2017; Auriol, 2014). Strengthening early-stage entrepreneurial activities and supporting their quest for expansion, however, require access to financial, legal, and public services that are almost always only available to established enterprises and organizations that belong to the formal sector (International Labour Organization [ILO], 2013). Deprived of these key ingredients, small businesses may not be able to take advantage of opportunities to stabilize, expand, and/or generate profits (i.e., producing/selling a higher level of output, lowering costs through economies of scale, etc.). Caught between these two equally costly circumstances, a considerable proportion of Philippine businesses in 2015 were discontinued—12.1%, the highest in the ASEAN region (Velasco et al., 2017). Indeed, the Philippine Entrepreneurship Report, 2015-16 determined that the top two reasons for business closures in 2015 were the lack of profitability and the lack of access to credit (Velasco et al., 2017)

Building a Foundation for Digital Animation

An analysis of the Philippine digital animation sub-sector reveals that the key areas on which resources should be focused to move up the industry’s value chain are: 1) recruiting, developing, and retaining talent; 2) financing the cultivation of original content; and 3) expanding and improving the country’s information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure

Education in the Time of COVID: Bridging Inequalities in Access to Opportunities

In an attempt to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, virtually all schools around the world were closed by the end of the first quarter of 2020. Following a brief hiatus, the majority of the countries opted to utilize variations of distance learning—as opposed to resuming face-to-face classes—to minimize disruptions in the education of the more than 1.5 billion students in 191 countries. In the Philippines, the remote education multi-modal approach took the following forms: the use of modules (Modular Distance Learning), radio/television-based instruction (R/TVI), and online facilities

Industry Career Guide: Health and Wellness

The Health and Wellness Services industry belongs to the services sector. The National Statistical Coordination Board (2007) defines it as institutions that cater to the “activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for health and wellness purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”. Establishments belonging to the industry, therefore, are in engaged in: 1) hospital care and treatment – refer to services offered by public and private hospitals, sanitaria and other similar services; 2) specialty clinics – pertain to general public and private medical services such as dental and laboratory services, and other human health services; 3) wellness and spa centers – consisting of enterprises that provide physical and well-being services including but are not limited to slendering and body-building services, massage, reflexology, facials, nail care, waxing, and body treatments, etc.; and 4) retirement and rehabilitative care – comprised of residential institutions, that care for the aged and orphans, and the rehabilitation of people addicted to drugs or alcohol

Industry Career Guide: Wholesale and Retail Trade

The Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) industry belongs to the services sector. In the Philippines, it is generally composed of three divisions, namely: Division 50, which consist of Sale, Maintenance and Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles, Retail Sale of Automotive Fuel, Division 51, on the other hand, which consist of Wholesale Trade and Commission Trade, Except of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles, and Division 52, consisting of Retail Trade, Except of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles, Repair of Personal and Household Goods

Career Guide: Wholesale and Retail Trade Policy Brief (WRT)

The WRT industry is a leading employer in the Philippines, with an annual average of 18-19% of total Philippine employment from 2006-2010. It contributed an average of 16.85% annually to the country’s gross domestic product, 2006- 2009. The wholesale subsector’s share was an average of 3.98% annually, while the retail subsector’s was an average of 12.87% annually. WRT is poised to continuously support the country’s bid to sustain economic growth and be a dominant force in the labor market

Portfolio Selection Using Data Envelopment Analysis

There has been a growing interest in applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a non-parametric approach in portfolio optimization due to its flexibility in overcoming the limitations of the conventional mean-variance portfolio (MVP) model. Therefore, this study highlights the use of DEA as a portfolio selection tool that may encourage individuals to invest in the Philippine stock market for its ability to integrate any technical and fundamental factors. This study shows that the DEA model outperforms the MVP model in terms of risk-adjusted returns. However, the investor may need to change the model used to generate the highest returns because the investor may either hold a short-term or long-term investment. This study recommends that the investor does the following: (a) formulate short-term portfolios using the DEA model as it outperforms the MVP in the short-run and can provide for a versatile set of inputs and outputs that determine the optimal portfolio, and (b) formulate long-term portfolios using the MVP model as returns are mean-reverting in the long-run

Philippine Air Transportation: Impact and Challenges

With the Philippines’ archipelagic geography, air transport is the most efficient way to connect its islands and boost economic activities. Using the latest Philippine input-output tables (National Statistical Coordination Board, 2006; Philippine Statistics Authority, 2014, 2017), the air transport sector proves to be the leading driver of economic activities. Ranking first relative to all other sectors in the economy, in terms of backward linkages, indicates its general dependence on the rest of the economy for inputs to the services that it provides

A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach to Portfolio Selection: An Application to the Blue Chip Stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange (2010-2019)

There has been a growing interest in the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a nonparametric approach in portfolio optimization due to its flexibility in overcoming the limitations of the conventional mean-variance portfolio (MVP) model. Therefore, this study aims to validate the allocative efficiency of the DEA cross-efficiency model using blue chip stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019. This study finds that the proposed model is able to distinguish a unique set of best-performing stocks across each holding period and outperforms the MVP more consistently. The results of this study suggest that the proposed DEA cross-efficiency model can encourage more Filipinos to invest because it can provide an allocatively-efficient manner of selecting optimal stocks and incorporate other factors that affect the return and risk of a portfolio. Finally, this study suggests that future studies can examine this model using the entire Philippine stock market with an alternative set of criteria that affect stock returns and, ultimately, the stock’s performance