Tanganan Goes to Town

It can be said as a matter of fact that almost all people, generally follow the norms and standards of the society they belong to. Individuals have the naturally tendency to live their lives according to what their culture dictates. There can be as many varieties of cultures as there are societies in the world and this obviously means that there can be as many subcultures to conform to. The crime subculture is one such realm. The occurrence of crime is largely held to be inherent in Philippine society. Especially in urban areas, it is generally believed to not only be a constant threat to one\u27s safety but also an inescapable part of city life. As in any other society, criminal activity is considered to be deviant behavior. But in some parts of the world, such as in a barangay in Iloilo (as has been periodically reported newspapers), the residents are being socialized into criminal activity, shifting the general perception of crime from being something that is deviant to something of a standard. The group\u27s story revolves around a young man\u27s choice of a career path which has been invariably influenced by his socialization in a subculture that does not acknowledge the deviancy of crime. Ramon Tanganan was born and raised in the rural barangay of Abucay, Sta. Filomena, home of the notorious Manila bank robbers, the Asoaso Gang. Like every kid in his community, all he wants to become is an Asoaso: hero and breadwinner for the village, just like his slain father. Because of his clumsiness, the gang leader Magno decides that he is unfit to become a bank robber and wouldn\u27t train him to become one like the others. It is now up to Ramon to make himself the robber that he wants to be, and to go to Manila in pursuit of his dream

Marketing plan for Mandarin Oriental\u27s Paseo Uno

Filipinos love to eat, and it has been found that 65% of Filipino in Metro Manila belonging to the classes A, B, C, D dine out (Synovate 2006). With the full service restaurants playing an important role in high tourist traffic (Euromonitor, 2006), it is not surprising as to why hotels have several food outlets in them. In high-class five-star hotels, numerous types of cuisines are available whether in a fine dining or in a casual-dining setting. These restaurants are linked in to their mother hotels and contribute to the value restaurant of Mandarin Oriental Manila. Paseo Uno is located at the lobby of Mandarin Oriental Manila, which is in the central business district of Makati City. It completes strongly with other five-star hotels buffet restaurants such as Makati Shangri-la\u27s Circles, HEAT of EDSA Shangri-la and Spiral of Philippine Sofitel. These buffet restaurants offer extensive cuisines and have a much larger seating capacity than Paseo Uno, and most of all offers diners with an open-kitchen right at the food stations where the hawker-style of serving is done by the chefs. In order for Paseo Uno to keep up with its competitors and for it to get back up from its declining sales, numerous sales promotions such as a dessert festival called Delightful Treats, a lounge type of dining by the poolside during the summer, and frequency cards. Product innovations such as the renovation of one part of the restaurant to accommodate more dishes, and extension of the buffet by making the seafood buffet regular and introducing healthy dishes at the buffet every weekend called Healthy Indulgences. Aside from the usual press releases, PR programs such as tapping a museum/art institute tying up with the organization and Freedom from hunger will also be done in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Suggestions for improved sales distribution such as creating corporate accounts for diners and an e-mail tracking system have also been proposed by the group. Lastly, Paseo Uno will be strongly linked to the Mandarin Oriental brand in all of its promotions and programs. The feasible increase in sales has been computed at 10%, given that 333% of the target market will dine in Paseo Uno. This could be done through the extensive print ads, non-traditional advertising, direct mail, press releases and e-mail blasts, which could reach 280,940 people out of the estimated market size of 330,851. The financial statement computed show that there will be a difference of 24.1% from the original projected income (income with out the group\u27s marketing intervention) for 2009, or a Php2,637,173 difference in the first year. The second and third years will show a spike in income which will be ˜Php30,684,148 and Php43,506,261 as compared to a Php4,263,3151 and a loss of Php 2,495,027 if without improved marketing efforts. The program will be monitored through e-mail tracking, restaurant surveys, media mileage check-ups and through customer comments which may be retrieved from Mandarin Oriental Manila\u27s website